


The female of her species is more deadly than the male

by Angstosaur



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Dubious Consent, M/M, Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2019-08-09 12:02:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 63,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16449563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angstosaur/pseuds/Angstosaur
Summary: A sequel to 'The seeds of ill will' , this picks up not long after that story ended.During that story it became apparent that the weevil attacks on Cardiff Police Station during Gray's reign of terror had long lasting implications. Some police officers had more than the usual grudge against Torchwood and a few - fuelled by homophobia - took that out directly on Ianto. Their misdeeds were revealed and they were suspended - only for their bodies to be found in the river Taff, each one shot dead. Despite suspicions that Torchwood (maybe even Jack) had been responsible, there was no evidence to indicate the identity of the assassin- apart from a few red fish scales found under the fingernails of the dead men.It does not take long before those responsible turn their attentions towards Torchwood, with devastating consequences.





	1. Chapter 1

The blue and white mug came crashing down on Jack’s desk, the contents slopping close to the rim, threatening to spill over onto the paperwork he was barely focused on. There were still the remains of dried coffee stains on the outside of the mug from the last time it had been used, indicating that it hadn’t been washed before being refilled. That was always a bad sign.

The fact that Ianto was about to leave the office without a word was the breaking point. They’d not spoken a word to one another all morning and Jack knew it was his fault and there was no way of avoiding the apology he knew he owed Ianto.

“Hold up – please?” 

Jack had to stand up and grab hold of Ianto by the elbow to stop him in his tracks.

“Was there something else you needed? Sir?” The lack of any innuendo, or any warmth at all for that matter, further convinced Jack that he’d left this far too long.

“What I need is for you to accept my apology,” Jack sounded desperate. “I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”

“I would really like it if you stopped treating me like an emotional punch bag whenever you feel like venting your frustration.” Ianto glared at Jack. He didn’t raise his voice but carried on when it looked as if Jack was about to interrupt. “What I want is not to be at the receiving end whenever something doesn’t go to plan, or, heaven forbid, Gwen challenges your authority. When you can promise me that, that’s when I’ll accept your apology.”

Jack flinched away from bitterness in Ianto’s quietly spoken demand. He knew he’d gone too far the previous evening – he’d tried to apologise but Ianto had just got dressed and left the Hub, without a word.

“How about I take you out for lunch today?” Jack pleaded, his eyes begging for forgiveness. “I’ll get the others to cover for us. Somewhere quiet, wherever you want. Cost is no object. Please?”

“Look, Jack, you can’t always buy forgiveness you know,” sighed Ianto wearily, having lived through enough Jack Harkness apologies to recognise the standard pattern. “It was a tough day for all of us yesterday – not just you.”

“I know … it’s just …” Jack closed his eyes and consciously stopped himself from trying to make excuses for his unacceptable behaviour. “Please let me make this up to you?”

“It’s going to take more than a fancy lunch,” Ianto rolled his eyes. “But it’s a start. A good start.”

“Thank you,” Jack clapped a hand to Ianto’s shoulder in gratitude. “Tell you what - I’ll get Gwen to collect the lunch order for her and Tosh, save you the trouble.”

“Good idea. Now, if that’s all, I’ll head back upstairs – meet you there later. What time?”

“One thirty?”

“That’s fine, gives me time to get some work done first.”

“I’ll see you later then.” Jack allowed himself a relieved smile, working hard not to let it broaden too much. Despite his temptation to seize Ianto and give him a ‘thank you – I promise I’ll make it up to you’ kiss, he didn’t want to annoy Ianto any more than he already had done. He’d exercise patience and let Ianto dictate the pace of their making up. In the past it had always proved the best choice, in so many ways.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gwen used her foot to shove open the door to the Tourist Office, whilst carefully balancing a cardboard tray containing two tall cups of coffee and two packets of sandwiches that she’d picked up for herself and Tosh. Jack had made it clear that he didn’t want them to bother Ianto at all – not for food and definitely not for coffee. 

“You OK there?” Ianto looked up from his computer screen. 

“Yep – got it.” Gwen shouldered the door shut behind her and then placed her tray on the counter top, scattering a few bus timetables and leaflets advertising the attractions of Cardiff Castle. “Right then, spill. What the hell has he done?”

“Who?” Ianto tilted his head to one side and tried to appear perplexed.

“Don’t play coy with me, Ianto Jones. You know who I’m talking about, Jack-bloody-Harkness.” 

Gwen put her hands down on either side of Ianto’s keyboard and leaned in close. 

“What has he done this time? Or not done?”

“Why do you think he’s done something?” Ianto asked insouciantly, concentrating hard on looking Gwen in the eye and not in the cleavage which was looming closer by the second, the edge of her lacy bra peeking out to tease him. He’d seen her do this to Jack, on more than one occasion, and he could now appreciate how effective a strategy it could be – he wondered if she’d utilised it when she worked for the police.

“He announced that he was taking you out to lunch and that nothing short of an imminent invasion would count as a big enough emergency for us to dare disturb the pair of you.” Gwen spoke slowly, pausing for effect on the words ‘invasion’ and ‘emergency’. “So, like I said, what the hell did he do?”

“None of your business, Gwen.” 

Ianto was tight-lipped. He knew how much Gwen loved to gossip and there was no way he was giving her details about what went on between him and Jack behind closed doors. Their sex life may not be the best kept secret, partly because Jack had little concept of proprietary when it came to seduction in the workplace, but the dynamics of their relationship were much more safely guarded.

“Shit – that’s exactly what he said.” Gwen backed off, looking more than a little peeved.

“Let me get the door for you.” Ianto smiled as he pressed the red button that released the catch to the hidden access to the corridor that led to the lift. He was pleased that Jack had drawn the same line for Gwen that he had. Perhaps there was a way they could work out their current problems after all. 

As soon as Gwen disappeared from view, Ianto picked up the phone to inform Jack that he was ready for lunch and had taken the liberty of booking a table at one of the more expensive restaurants in the area. Settling the receiver back into its cradle, he logged off from his work station, shut it down and then stepped through the beaded curtain to collect his overcoat. 

Gwen had hesitated on her way to the lift, wondering if it was worth going back out to buy one of Tosh’s favourite Danish pastries. Where she often failed with the direct approach, Tosh often succeeded with subterfuge – it just took a little more effort to persuade her to pry into the affairs of their colleagues. However, she realised that the hot drinks would go cold if she went back out and Jack had emphasised the fact that no-one was to ask Ianto for coffee or go anywhere near the coffee machine. 

Regretfully she turned back towards the lift and as she did so she was thrown off her feet by a sudden blast. 

The shock wave had sent her flying, hot lattés drenched her blouse making her shriek in pain. Instinct kicked in quickly though and she rolled over before scrambling back onto her feet. She ran back along the short corridor towards the Tourist Office entrance, just in time to see the secondary shielding sliding rapidly into place, concealing the thick metal door that she could see was distorted and buckled in the centre. 

“Ianto! Ianto!” she screamed, hammering at the metal barrier that sealed off the ground level entrance. She frantically pressed the red button, again and again, but was unable to reverse the automatic lock down. 

Then a second explosion rocked the ground beneath her feet. It was far louder than the first, despite the thicker shielding in place. Although the blast doors kept the damage contained, the floor beneath her shook violently and she fell awkwardly to the ground once more. 

Pressing her hands up against the metal wall, horrified to find it was warm to the touch, Gwen was too shocked to respond to the voices yelling in her earpiece, demanding answers. A buzzing in her ears rendered their questions unintelligible as her vision became blurred. Her lower lip trembled as she tasted the saltiness of tears that trickled down her face. It was lunch time. This wasn’t meant to happen. Not now. They weren’t ready. She wasn’t ready. Not for this. One sob, and then others in quick succession, escaped from her chest, bursting their way free, only to be subsumed by a scream that ripped through her throat.


	2. Chapter 2

Gwen was still curled up on the floor, her hands pressed against the steel wall, when Jack and Owen came thundering up the concrete stairway. The emergency lockdown stopped the lifts from working, but they could still access the stairs in case of fire. 

“Bloody hell – what the fuck happened?” Owen rushed to Gwen’s side, gently pulling her away from the wall and letting her cling onto him. 

“Where’s Ianto?” Jack growled, scoping the area for any signs of danger. He was gripping his Webley in two hands in an unsuccessful attempt to keep from shaking.

Gwen tried to answer but choked on the words and ended up shaking in Owen’s arms. Part of her felt that she didn’t deserve to be comforted, but the calming touches and soothing words proved too great a temptation, even though Owen’s hands were cold and there was no reassuring heart beat as she leaned against his chest.

“Are you hurt? Got any injuries?” Owen skimmed his hands over Gwen’s head, shoulders and arms, feeling for broken bones or bleeding. He was reassured to find that the warm, damp patch on the front of her blouse wasn’t blood, but appeared to be coffee. 

“I’m alright … but, Ianto... oh my God … Ianto was in there …” 

Gwen twisted around to look up at Jack. He had finished checking for intruders and had come back to stand by the sealed doorway, his face contorted with confusion and horror. Gwen struggled to get to her feet, ignoring Owen’s attempts to keep her sitting down until he’d finished his assessment of her condition. She grabbed hold of Jack’s braces and clung onto them to keep her standing.

“Oh God, Jack, I’m so sorry …” 

Jack let her bury her face into his neck and wrapped one arm around her. He pressed his lips to the top of her head, not trusting himself to say a thing. If it wasn’t for the fact that Gwen was holding onto him so tightly he’d have probably begun to hammer with his bare fists on the metal wall. He was torn between feeling relieved that she was apparently unharmed and devastated that Ianto hadn’t escaped with her. 

When the explosions had rocked the Hub, they’d been unable to raise Ianto on his comm unit and Gwen hadn’t been answering hers, but at least they’d been able to hear her shouting and screaming. 

“We’re going to have to get back downstairs– right, Jack?” Owen looked from Jack to the impenetrable wall and then back again. Whilst Gwen was holding onto Jack, his gaze was fixed on the red flashing light set into the wall indicating an irreversible lockdown.

Owen knew that Jack was fully aware that there was no way they could get through to the Tourist Office from where they were standing, not until any potential threats were identified and neutralised. The seal was complete, providing protection against anything from toxic gases to most forms of ionising radiation. 

Deep below ground level, they’d felt the shocks from the explosions reverberate and had been powerless to stop the blast shields automatically shutting them in for their own safety.

Tosh had immediately pinpointed the location of the attack on the internal sensors, but the cameras had all failed, leaving them in the agonising situation of not knowing the fate of their friends. Jack had been all for rushing into potential danger on his own, screaming at Owen and Tosh to stay put, that was until Owen had physically restrained him and argued that if medical assistance was going to be necessary it would have to be given without delay. Grudgingly Jack had agreed, after telling Tosh to find out what had happened. 

“Jack?” Owen tentatively put a hand on Jack’s shoulder prompting him to respond.

“Yes?” Jack swallowed hard, unable to add anything further. 

He would have torn his way through the shielding if he could, but it was there for a reason, protecting the rest of the base from whatever had caused the destruction on the other side. He could survive anything, but his team couldn’t. 

_If Ianto was on the other side of that wall…_

Jack shook his head refusing to let the haunting images of ‘what might be’ take root. Until he saw for himself. Until he had irrefutable evidence… Otherwise, he would deny that possibility for as long as he possibly could.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as they got back to the main area of the Hub, Owen made Gwen sit down on the sofa and tucked a blanket around her shoulders in an effort to delay the onset of shock.

Tosh looked up from her computer, her eyes red-rimmed. She was biting her lip and swallowed hard before calling the men over to her work station.

“I’ve managed to call up the CCTV footage. It’s possible to see what happened up to the time of the first explosion.”

Jack and Owen stood in silence behind Tosh as she tapped a key. On the monitor in front of them the footage played back, revealing the scene in the Tourist Office as Gwen stood chatting with Ianto before picking up her lunch tray and going through the secret doorway. 

They watched on as Ianto picked up the phone, made a short call and then got up to collect his coat. He kept his back to the camera, which Jack realised was because he was wary of Jack spying on him and obviously didn’t want him to see what sort of expression had been on his face as he’d told him that he was ready to go out for lunch. Jack wished he’d been able to see whether or not that secretive smile was in place, he needed to know if Ianto had been close to forgiving him.

All thoughts of their latest argument were dispelled as Tosh slowed down the playback. In slow motion, the recording revealed the side wall being punched inwards by some immense force that tore through the small area, bricks and timber going flying as the whole seaward wall came crashing in. It was just possible to see Ianto being thrown to the floor beneath the position of the wall mounted camera. Then there was nothing as the flickering images petered out completely to be replaced by a blank screen.

“There was another blast – even bigger than that.” Gwen said haltingly, having got up from the sofa to join them. “I felt it.”

“So did we,” stated Tosh simply, bleakly recalling the shock they’d felt as the resonance of the explosions rocked the whole base. 

The silence that followed Tosh’s grim statement was broken by the sound of a phone ringing on an abandoned desk. A quick glance at the faces of the others convinced Owen that it was up to him to answer it. He wasn’t surprised to find himself talking to the emergency services co-ordinator, although when he put the receiver down, he reflected on the fact that it was usually Ianto that fielded such calls. 

“Emergency services are responding, Jack – there’s been some collateral damage. Civilian casualties.” Owen reported quietly. “We should get up there.”

“Yeah – we should make sure the area’s contained.” Jack rubbed his face wearily realising that the others were waiting for him to pull himself together and start issuing commands. 

“How are you going to get out?” Gwen asked. “I thought a total lockdown couldn’t be countermanded?”

“After the last time, we installed a failsafe,” explained Tosh as she called up the appropriate program. “After fifteen minutes it’s possible to operate the lift in here, as long as the central part of the Hub hasn’t been infiltrated.”

“You’re with me, Owen!” Jack called out, swinging his coat around his shoulders, trying not to remember Ianto helping him out of it the previous day. “Tosh, I want to know where that attack originated from. Gwen – call Rhys, let him know you’re OK – then help Tosh. I want answers – I want to know who, why and how.”

Gwen gave Jack a hug, understanding exactly what he was trying to say, thankful that he acknowledged that Rhys would be worried about her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The perception filter wouldn’t normally be good enough to conceal two angry men storming out of nowhere from under the water tower – but anyone who would have been around to see them had already dashed to the waterfront, chasing the fire engines and ambulances that had already arrived, sirens blaring and lights flashing.

Pushing a way through the onlookers, Jack barged past the cordon of police that were setting up portable barriers to keep the public out.

“You can’t go through there – it’s dangerous!” yelled an unsuspecting police officer.

“Try and stop me,” snarled Jack, ready to take his pistol from its holster.

“Torchwood!” called out Owen, grasping Jack’s hand to prevent him from making a bad situation infinitely worse. 

“I might have known,” muttered the officer sarcastically.

“What did you say?” demanded Jack menacingly, grabbing hold of the man’s fluorescent yellow, high visibility jacket in his fist. “One of my men was in there!”

“Oh fuck.” The policeman swore under his breath, quickly moving aside so that Jack and Owen could get through. 

As they got closer, they passed firemen progressing steadily along the boardwalk, dousing the last of the flames with foam. There were paramedics attending several people who’d been too close and had been caught in the blast. They appeared to be suffering from cuts and burns, most probably from flying debris. Owen looked to Jack and saw that he, too, was scanning the faces and clothing, searching for a young man in a suit and coming up blank.

There was virtually nothing left of the Tourist Office. The bronze statue that had been perched on the terrace above was hanging even more precipitously over the edge now. The boardwalk that had skirted the edge of the simple building on the side facing the Bay was no longer there, apart from a few shattered planks, precariously dangling over the lapping water. 

The interior of the Tourist Office was flooded with water from the Bay, which was putting out any resilient flames that still flickered amidst the charred flyers and bundles of brochures. The remaining contents were burnt beyond recognition, all apart from the beaded curtain that floated on the surface of the murky water, no longer multi-coloured, but blackened like everything else inside. 

“Fucking bastards!” shouted Owen furiously. 

Jack merely stood there, staring at what had been Ianto’s workspace. He’d been on his way there to meet Ianto for lunch. Now there was nothing left.

Ianto was gone.

“We need to secure the area, gentlemen, if you please,” prompted a voice in the background. “In case there are any further incendiary devices.”

Jack didn’t hear the fireman who was leading a small team of men wearing breathing apparatus towards the smouldering ruins. It was only when he felt a tug at his arm that he shifted his gaze momentarily.

“Come on, Jack, let these guys do their job.”

“But what about Ianto?” Jack asked, sounding dazed.

“If there’s anything to find, these guys are properly kitted out. We’re not – come on, let’s get out of their way.” 

Owen didn’t want to spell it out to Jack that if there was anything left of Ianto it wouldn’t be readily identifiable. He needed to get Jack out of there. In any other situation he would be planning to gain access to dental records and fingerprints, but not this time. The mere thought appalled him. One glance at Jack convinced him that he’d be fully occupied picking up the pieces of the living before he’d have time to deal with the dead.

“He hates mess,” muttered Jack, shaking his head in despair at the scene of devastation, before letting himself be numbly led away by Owen.


	3. Chapter 3

“Is he still in there?” asked Gwen, pointing up towards Jack’s office. The blinds were shut so that it wasn’t possible to see inside. 

She’d rushed back from the locker room having been to change out of her coffee-soaked blouse- it had become damp, chilly and uncomfortable. As soon as she’d pulled an old t-shirt over her head, she’d ran back to join the others, not wanting to be on her own any longer than necessary. 

“Yep,” announced Owen, succinctly.

From his vantage point on the sofa he’d not taken his eyes off the door since Jack had slammed it shut behind him, making it clear he didn’t want to be disturbed. For a while they’d been able to hear Jack yelling at one person after another on the phone – demanding answers and assistance from whoever he could get to speak to him. Then it had gone quiet. Very quiet. 

“Perhaps I should go and try to talk to him again?” Gwen looked to Owen for approval. 

She’d tried earlier when Owen had first brought a shell-shocked Jack back into the Hub, only to be stopped in her tracks by a fierce glare from the doctor and the blank look in Jack’s eyes.

“No – definitely not.” Owen shook his head.

“But-”

“Owen’s right, Gwen – leave him alone.” Tosh interrupted. She was sitting on the sofa, her head on Owen’s shoulder and his arm around her, they’d been comforting each other without words since Jack had shut himself away.

“That’s easy for you to say, Tosh,” protested Gwen stridently. “But he needs someone to talk to right now-”

“No, he fucking doesn’t!” Owen blurted out impatiently. “He needs to brood for a while – give him space. For fuck’s sake, Gwen, if ever there was a time you needed to respect that, it’s now.”

“He’s not the only person who’s upset, I was-” Gwen protested.

“And neither are you, Gwen!” Tosh’s voice rang out. “Ianto was our friend, too.”

Gwen clamped her mouth shut, relieved that she’d not finished her sentence stating that she’d nearly been blown up as well. 

“Well I don’t know about you two, but I can’t wait around all day for Jack to deal with his feelings,” stated Gwen, abruptly changing tack. 

If Gwen wasn’t able to comfort Jack, perhaps she could argue the case for him needing a kick up the backside. She couldn’t deal with a grieving Jack, at least not from a distance, but a vengeful one was one she could work with. She was also somewhat surprised to realise that vengeance was something she had a hankering for. 

“We need to find out who the hell was responsible for this. We might not be able to get Ianto back, but we can find who or what launched the attack and make them pay.”

“Agreed.” Owen sat up quickly, pulling Tosh to her feet as well. He realised that they’d been wasting time, waiting for Jack to come blustering out of his office snapping out orders and threatening retribution. 

“Gwen – you up to liaising with the emergency services and finding out what they’ve got so far?”

“I… yes, I can do that.” Gwen frowned as she watched Owen heading towards the lift. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going up to see what’s left of the Tourist Office.” Owen wanted to find out for himself if they’d found any trace of Ianto’s body. He needed to see the evidence for himself before accepting their fears as reality. 

“But Jack said no one was to leave the Hub.” Tosh pointed out. It had been one of the last commands Jack had issued before disappearing into his office. 

“I can’t see him rushing to stop me.”

“Owen’s got a point, Tosh. Jack can’t expect us to sit on our bloody hands hiding away down here, not when we could be doing something.” 

“OK, I’ll see what I can find on any of the security cameras in the Bay area – see if anything was picked up.” Tosh blew her nose on a tissue and put on her glasses. There would be time enough for grieving later. For now, they needed answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack watched through a gap in the blinds as his team got to work. He was in no mood for Gwen’s pity, Tosh’s grief or Owen’s anger – not whilst his own emotions outweighed any that they may be feeling. Overwhelmed by feelings of rage, he’d shouted at people who had nothing to do with what had happened. He needed someone to blame. He felt guilty that he wasn’t the one making decisions and taking action, but until he got a grip on his rage he couldn’t trust himself not to take it out on his team.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen had returned from his recce mission and was handing out hot beverages to Gwen and Tosh. He’d figured out that they wouldn’t want to go anywhere near the kitchen area, not yet, but caffeine was definitely required. He wished he could still drink and he wasn’t thinking of coffee. Thoughts of seeking solace from a bottle of single malt were put to one side as he heard Jack leaving his office. 

“Meeting in five – I wanna know what you’ve got for me.” 

Jack made no apologies for having temporarily abandoned his responsibilities and steadfastly refused to meet anyone’s eyes but Owen’s. He was grateful that the doctor had stepped up to take charge and wanted him to know that. 

“Right, boss.” Owen could see the shutters that had come down, sealing the grief away in private, allowing Jack to take on the mantle of leadership once more. 

“Thanks, Owen.” Jack briefly grasped the other man’s shoulder as he walked past on his way to the boardroom.

“Jack?” Gwen reached out a hand but stopped short of actually making contact.

“Not now, Gwen.” Jack shook his head and turned away, the sympathy coming off her in waves making him feel queasy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they had all gathered in the boardroom, each deliberately not looking in the direction of the empty seat, Owen cleared his throat for no logical reason other than to get their attention. He explained that the area was cordoned off, but he’d managed to talk to one of the Cardiff forensic officers that were still on talking terms with him.

“For a start they’ve found no human remains in the vicinity of what was the Tourist Office, absolutely nothing. They’re working on the theory that the…Ianto… could’ve ended up in the sea.” Owen censored himself from saying ‘the body’, although that’s what the forensic team had been referring to. “They’ve got divers arriving in about half an hour, although they told me that there’s no guarantee they’ll find anything.”

Owen monitored Jack’s reaction carefully and could just about fathom a brief spark of hope, before it was quenched by a tide of despair. A curt nod was all the external reaction that Jack allowed himself and Owen acknowledged that by quickly turning to Gwen and prompting her to give her feedback from what she’d found out from her contacts.

“I spoke with the incident investigation team – they didn’t want to commit to anything before they get the full forensic report, but I did manage to get something from them.” 

In truth Gwen had badgered away until they released details in the understanding that it went no further. It was what she was good at. 

“The preliminary inspection seems to suggest that some sort of missile was launched at the external wall of the Tourist Office, from the Bay. It took out the wall and most of the floor as well.”

“From the Bay – what, from a boat?” asked Jack, scowling. 

“There’s more,” Gwen leaned forward, holding her hands up as if cautioning them not to overreact. “No one will confirm this yet, but apparently one of the firemen that went in used to be in the armed forces and he reckons that the internal damage looked as if a mine had been detonated inside, right close to the door.”

“But a mine would have to have been put in position directly.” Tosh pointed out.

“Exactly.” Gwen swallowed hard and looked from Jack to Owen to see who would react first.

“Shit, that means-” 

“Someone entered the Tourist Office between the blasts.” Jack finished Owen’s summation for him, smashing a fist down onto the table with fury.

Owen thanked all that he didn’t believe in- finally they had a chance – Jack was letting his anger out. That was just what they needed to set him off on an unholy rampage. Which, as far as Owen was concerned, was just what this crime was calling for. 

“Hang on a minute - if someone came in, planted a mine and then left, isn’t it possible that they took Ianto with them?” Tosh tentatively suggested.

“Yes – but who the fuck would go to those extremes to grab Ianto and why?” Owen asked the question they all wanted to know the answer to.

“Damn. We’ve been wasting time.” Jack growled. “No. This is all on me - I’ve been wasting time.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Retching violently, coughing up salt water, Ianto realised he couldn’t actually move. Fortunately, he was curled up on his side, otherwise he'd have choked. Blinking to clear his eyes, all he could see in front of him was a strange mesh like pattern. Cautiously reaching out, his fingers caught in what felt like netting. He was entirely encased in what seemed to be a nylon mesh fishing net, wrapping tightly around his legs, holding him immobile and unable to escape. 

“Welcome to my base of operations, Office Boy.” 

A husky voice, deep and throaty with a slight raspiness echoed in the space around him. The sound of rustling accompanied the slow tapping of what sounded like stiletto heels on metal. Into his field of vision appeared the edges of black lace skirts, layers of them, like something from a period drama, Victorian maybe. A foot emerged, encased in a shiny, black boot. Before he had the chance to take in any further details he added pointed toe to the description as he felt it dig viciously into his ribs.

“Who the hell are you?” 

“Not interested in where you are? Or why you’re still alive? That’s what they usually ask. Ah well – you get one free question. My name is Volitana.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind your footing, imminent cliff hanger ahead...

_48 hours later…_

They had nothing. Not a single shred of evidence had been found to indicate what had become of Ianto Jones.

Despite Jack’s insistence that the stretch of water alongside what was left of the Tourist Office be thoroughly searched, the divers hadn’t found any useful clues. Gwen had taken it upon herself to stand at the quayside as various waterlogged items were hoisted to the surface, including a dozen soggy plush dragons and the shattered remains of Ianto’s desk top computer. Tosh had instructed Gwen to remove the hard drive before allowing the rest of the unit to be thrown in the skip with the rest of the scrap. Gwen stooped down to pick up a broken shard of Ianto’s coffee mug and tucked it into her jacket pocket. It was as if she could hold onto hope by clinging onto something connected to her missing friend. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a woman discreetly setting down a small bunch of flowers amongst the growing heap of tributes being left by the wall. Whilst waiting for the diving team to bring their finds to the surface, Gwen had looked through the notes left with the assorted floral offerings from local businesses that Ianto dealt with on a daily basis. It had never occurred to her how many of the local food outlets he frequented, always keeping the team supplied with food and beverages at all hours of the day. She realised that she’d never stopped to think about how he did it, he just did, at any time of day or night, Ianto had been able to procure whatever had taken their fancy. Apparently, Ianto had established good relationships with a wide range of people in the area, who had all taken the opportunity to express their sorrow at his tragic death. There was even a card from the Mermaid Quay management centre, attached to small Welsh flag. Torchwood may have tried to maintain an illusion of secrecy, but Ianto Jones had been a well known and much-loved individual if the messages left on and around the police cordon were anything to go by.

Gwen wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and reached into her pocket for her mobile, hesitating briefly to hold the shard of broken mug between her fingers. Then she called Rhys, she wanted to hear his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen had tried to persuade Jack to call Ianto’s sister, or at least let Gwen go visit her and let her know what had happened. But Jack had angrily refused, stating that until he personally identified a body, he was not going to allow Owen to declare Ianto dead and that Gwen wasn’t to go anywhere near Ianto’s family. They had almost come to blows when Owen had asked Jack if the others even knew that Ianto had a sister. They had finally agreed that, once they had definitive proof of what had happened to Ianto, Jack would go to see Rhiannon and not until. 

Although both Jack and Owen had access to the personnel files that stated next of kin, only Jack had a copy of Ianto’s will and there was no way he was going to deal with that unless he had absolutely no choice. 

In the meantime, Jack insisted on following every possible lead and turning over every stone, even if that meant getting Gwen and Tosh to interview every single person who’d been in Mermaid Quay at the time of the incident. It had been agreed, by common consensus, that Jack wouldn’t talk to any more possible witnesses after they’d had to retcon the first victim of his over zealous questioning technique. 

Tosh had worked tirelessly through countless hours of video footage, from as many aspects as possible and had managed to trace and account for every individual that had been picked up on the security cameras in the area and not one of them had seen a living soul enter or leave the Tourist Office.

It was as if Ianto had vanished from the surface of the planet. Jack was terrified that that there was a very real possibility that his lover had suffered that very fate and that there would be nothing he could do to find him. That was why he was pushing his team to work around the clock in an effort to find out who was responsible and what they’d done with Ianto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto was hurting. He’d lost count of how many times he’d regained consciousness to find himself entangled, once more, in that damn net that constricted more tightly about his limbs if he struggled too much. Having lost track of how often he’d passed out from pain, he had no idea how much time had lapsed since he’d been captured. The dull ache in his stomach made him think it must have been at least a couple of days, but he couldn’t be entirely sure that the grumbling pain was from hunger and not from a particularly vicious kicking he’d received at one point. 

Peering through swollen eyelids, he could see his suit and shirt draped over the metal stool where Volitana had placed them after she’d had him stripped. No wonder he was feeling cold. He shuddered from both the chill and the memories that came flooding back of what she’d decided to do to him. The tremors that ran through his body triggered the net to tighten around his shoulders, making him wince in pain as the threads cut into the raw flesh on his back.

The sound of heels on the metal floor alerted Ianto to the return of his tormentor and he took a slow, painful breath, wondering how much more he would have to endure. 

Volitana slowly made her way across the small cabin that Ianto had been kept in and crouched down on the rusting metal floor next to him. She reached out and caressed his face with her gloved hand in a parody of affection. 

“Much as I have enjoyed your company, it’s time for us to say goodbye. A shame really, there’s so much more fun we could have had together. Adieu, Office Boy.”

Standing up once more, she moved to one side and issued an order to her accomplices who were waiting by the doorway.

“Take him. You know what to do.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was late evening and the remnants of a hastily eaten supper, kindly provided by Rhys, lay abandoned on the coffee table as each remaining team member worked quietly in their own areas. Tosh at her computer, reviewing the explosions again and again, running one programme after another, seeking energy traces, however nebulous, that could identify their assailants. Gwen was reading through statements from witnesses searching for anything they may have missed the first and second time around, whilst Owen kept one eye on the rift monitor and another on Jack.

It had been Owen’s idea to have Jack concentrate on identifying the devices used to blow up the Tourist Office; an inspired decision, as it involved inanimate objects, which wouldn’t require stitches or retcon after Jack had finished with them. It had come as a shock to Jack that some of the fragments fished out of the Bay bore more than a striking similarity to pieces of the casing of World War II era mortar shells. If it hadn’t been for the freshly sheared metal edges he would have assumed that they were left behind after a bombardment of the docks over sixty years ago. However, the fact that his base had apparently been attacked using weaponry of the 1940’s troubled him. Although he very much doubted that ghosts of soldiers long dead were targeting Torchwood, he’d certainly spent enough time in that decade to accumulate enemies as well as friends. 

It was as Jack was examining yet another fragment for distinguishing marks that the phone rang. Before he could get to it, Owen had already intercepted the call – they’d had more than enough apologies to make to various agencies in Cardiff as it was. It said a lot that Owen was deemed to be less likely to cause offence than Jack.

Owen frowned as he heard a vaguely familiar voice on the end of the line, he then nodded as he worked out who it was. He held his hand over the mouthpiece and yelled across the Hub:

“Oi, Gwen, it’s your copper mate! You know- the one that fancies you.”

“Andy?” 

“Yeah – that’s the one. Hurry up, or I’ll tell Rhys he keeps calling you at work.”

“Piss off and stop being such a wanker. Andy’s just a friend.” 

Gwen rushed across to snatch the phone from Owen. She wasn’t in the mood for his teasing, even though she realised that he was just trying to lighten the gloomy atmosphere. She perched on the edge of the desk as she said hello to Andy. There was something about the deep intake of breath she heard from her ex-colleague that struck a chord of ominous recognition and she automatically grabbed hold of Owen’s arm, not letting him leave her side. 

Jack looked up from the bench he was working at, sensing something amiss. He could see Gwen’s nails digging into Owen’s shirt, holding him close. It was the way she was biting her lower lip to stop it trembling that made Jack drop what he was doing to find out what was going on. 

“Oh my God. Yes, I’ve got that … which hospital? Right then – thanks, Andy.” 

Gwen hung up, not wanting to hear any more of Andy’s condolences. She’d delivered enough of them herself in the past. Banal statements such as ‘I’m so sorry for your loss’. She’d spoken those words often enough, but she didn’t want to hear those sentiments directed at her about someone she’d lost. Not now. A hysterical laugh caught in her throat as it occurred to her that she’d have to deliver that line to Jack. 

“Gwen – hello, Earth to Gwen?” Owen was tapping her hand, trying to get her to let go of his arm. “What was that all about? Is it Rhys?”

Gwen shook her head and looked around to see Jack silently waiting for her to deliver the bad news they’d been hoping never to hear.

“A body’s been found. Washed up on the barrage. Dressed in a suit.”


	5. Chapter 5

Tosh had tried to urge caution, after all they didn’t know for certain that it was Ianto’s body that had been found. However, as she looked from Gwen’s tear-tracked face to Jack’s deathly white pallor, she knew that they were beyond reasoning with. Owen shook his head slightly as he met her look of despair. 

“I’ll drive, shall I?” Owen offered. 

“I’ll stay here – keep an eye on the rift.” Tosh pointed in the general direction of her work station and resisted the urge to reach out and hug Jack. He looked so desolate. But she held back, telling herself she’d console him when they had irrefutable evidence and not until. If it was up to her to keep hope alive, so be it. “Let me know … just let me know, please.”

As Jack turned to fetch his coat from the rack, Owen reached out and gave Tosh a gentle hug.

“As soon as we know anything, I’ll call you.” 

Owen then steered Gwen out of the Hub, giving Jack some space to collect himself before he followed them out. Only Tosh witnessed their leader rubbing his eyes roughly with the sleeve of his greatcoat.

After the cog wheel door rolled back into position, Tosh slid open the drawer of her desk and pulled out a string of brightly coloured pieces of paper, folded into intricate shapes. Then taking a fresh sheet of paper, crisp and un-creased, she began to fold yet another paper crane to join the others. Tosh wasn’t convinced that she’d manage to fold one thousand in time to make that wish, but she was going to try her level best.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite Owen’s best efforts, he was unable to stop Jack barging into the hospital mortuary, flashing his Torchwood ID and demanding to see the body that had been found on the barrage. 

Gwen and Owen exchanged a quick look to confirm that they’d both noted that Jack had not mentioned Ianto’s name. It was as if he was determined to be shown a body that belonged to some other poor soul, so that he could continue to live in denial. The grim expression on Jack’s face made it overwhelmingly clear to both Owen and Gwen that he would be devastated if he was forced to accept Ianto’s death. They steeled themselves for the worst. 

Which was fortuitous as the attendant denied all knowledge of any unidentified bodies having been brought in that evening. He stated categorically that the only bodies he’d received belonged to an elderly couple involved in a road traffic accident on the M4.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in a screened off bay in the Accident and Emergency triage area, a policeman took advantage of the brief window of opportunity to speak to the man he’d accompanied to the hospital. The paramedics who’d brought them in were busily handing over the necessary details to transfer the responsibility for their patient. 

As he’d been the first person to attend the scene, it had made sense for him to travel in the ambulance to the hospital. After all, as he pointed out, foul play had to be ruled out and he needed to be at hand in case the man said anything that would help the police in their enquiries.

The junior doctor in attendance was too busy reading the notes and recalling the correct protocol to pay much attention to what the policeman was saying. He assumed that he was just trying to reassure the patient who appeared to be regaining consciousness.

“It’s a pity you don’t remember anything, mate. Perhaps you bashed your head?” 

The policeman spoke so quietly that only Ianto could make out the words. That confused him, because he’d not said anything to imply he didn’t know precisely what had happened.

The police officer leaned closer, ostensibly to adjust the oxygen mask on Ianto’s face, but he made sure that his sleeve hitched up enough to reveal a tiny tattoo on the inside of his wrist. It was of a cobweb with a spider at its centre. He held it in front of Ianto’s eyes for long enough to satisfy him that its significance was understood.

“She said you’ll be hearing from her. That and the fact that your niece really is very cute.” 

The implicit threat cut through the fuzziness in Ianto’s head. Suddenly the apparently disconnected, random phrases that Volitana had whispered into his ears, either before or after administering pain, all fell into place. He struggled against the straps that held the blanket tightly wrapped around him, desperate to get free, automatically panicking as the situation reminded him of being trapped in that net. 

“Excuse me, doctor. Doctor!” called out the policeman. “He’s getting a bit agitated. You might want to do something to calm him down.” 

A sinister smile ghosted the lips of the policeman as he stepped back from the gurney to let the nurse rush past him to check the monitors.

“Heart rate up to one twenty and rising, respiration rate elevated –” The nurse gently stroked Ianto’s damp hair, attempting to calm him down. “Hush there, love, you’re going to be alright. No need to panic … you’re in hospital now.”

The junior doctor swore under his breath, irritated that he’d not been more attentive, worried that he’d be in trouble, wondering whether or not he was going to get through his rotation in A&E. He was thankful that the nurse had responded swiftly to the distressed state of his patient who had been fighting to pull his arms free and was in danger of tugging the cannula out of the vein in his arm. Taking a calming breath, he made a quick assessment of the situation and decided that any risks involved were definitely outweighed by the benefits. Reassured by an affirming nod of the head from the more experienced nurse, he rapidly administered a mild sedative. 

As Ianto fought the sensation of losing consciousness, he desperately looked around to see where the policeman had gone and then he saw him, slipping through a gap in the curtains and disappearing from sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gwen – don’t you ever check your bloody phone?” 

Andy Davidson stood, hands on hips, glaring at the Torchwood contingent that were bristling at the security staff that had been despatched to quell the disturbance in the mortuary. He’d been about to go off duty, but as he’d been unable to get through to Gwen on her phone, he’d decided to stop off at the hospital to make sure she had got the messages he’d sent her.

“Why?” Gwen asked ingenuously. “Are we in the wrong hospital or something – did they take him somewhere else?” 

“No, you daft mare. He is here – he’s in A and E. Accident and Emergency – yes?” Andy spoke slowly with as much patience as he could muster, approaching Gwen as if she was a petulant five-year-old. “I never said it was a dead body that had been found, did I?”

“You mean he’s still alive?” Jack interjected, his voice wavering in an uncharacteristic way that made Andy look twice to check that it really was the leader of Torchwood speaking. 

“Well, that’s what the attending officer reported in after he called for the ambulance.”

“A and E then?” Owen repeated, wanting to make sure there were no further misunderstandings. 

“Yes. As far as I know, your mate, if it is him, is upstairs in the capable hands of the NHS. I imagine they’ve got him checked into an acute assessment unit by now.”

“But you said-” Gwen began, her mind still trying to assimilate what Andy was saying.

“You hung up before I could finish what I was saying. You always did that, never could be arsed to hear me out, like whatever I had to say wasn’t important.” Andy pointed a finger at Gwen accusingly. “You’ve got even worse since you joined Mulder and his gang.”

Gwen turned to check Jack’s reaction only to see him glaring at her before dashing off with Owen in close pursuit. 

“Oh shit.” Gwen felt sick to her stomach, regretting not having heard Andy out, or even checking the messages he’d sent her. 

“Come on then – we’d better catch up with them, before Harkness causes a major incident.” Andy proffered his arm to Gwen. He’d never been able to stay angry with her for long, which he knew was a weakness, but he couldn’t help himself. “I’m not equipped to cope with a riot by myself.”


	6. Chapter 6

Ianto had been transferred to the Acute Admissions Ward. The wet clothing had been removed from his body. He was vaguely aware of his body being manipulated to gain access to the assortment of open wounds that were in the process of being cleaned and dressed. 

He was beginning to drift off again when he heard the unmistakable sound of Owen announcing his presence. It occurred to him that the hapless doctor in A&E got off lightly, having had him transferred before Torchwood arrived. 

Struggling to regain consciousness, he was aware of Jack’s presence - even though he couldn’t open his eyes he knew it was Jack – he could smell him. He could feel the tentative touch as Jack stroked a hand through his hair and then the kiss that followed.

Although the sedative prevented him from responding, Ianto could make out the sounds of Owen complaining that Jack was getting in the way. He was also aware of a familiar warmth encompassing one of his hands, the grip of Jack’s much larger hands. For the first time in days he felt safe.

In the background, Ianto could hear Owen’s raised voice insisting on having him transferred to a private room. Occasional whole phrases broke out of the muffled conversations, enough to inform him that he’d suffered no serious injuries, but was suffering from mild hypothermia. Ianto mused that he did feel chilled to the bone, that much was true, but it wasn’t just the icy cold water that had stolen the warmth from his body. He had no idea how he was going to deal with the threat made to his family, but Jack’s presence comforted him sufficiently that he allowed sleep to claim his aching body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Ianto was installed in the private room, with Jack at his side, unwilling to let him out of his sight, Owen took the opportunity to visit the A&E doctor to discuss the initial treatment administered. He wanted to know why he’d sedated someone suffering from hypothermia – how did he think they could possibly gauge a patient’s level of consciousness if they’d been knocked out with a tranquiliser? 

On his return, Owen realised he’d not stopped to collect the rest of his kit from the SUV – he’d not brought it in with him initially as Gwen had led them all to believe they were identifying a body, not treating a patient. Rather than head out again, he decided to send Jack to go fetch it for him, along with the Bekaran deep tissue scanner. He figured that would buy him enough time to read through the detailed medical reports without Jack breathing down his neck. To make sure he’d have plenty of time, he also suggested he move the SUV from the double yellow lines at the front of the hospital and park it properly in the long-term car park. 

It had already been decided to despatch Gwen to the location where Ianto had been discovered. Jack had bluntly pointed out that as police liaison she needed to do some liaising. He’d been grateful when Andy Davison had offered to help out by driving her there. Although he was off duty, he was familiar with the layout of the barrage, having patrolled it on numerous occasions in the past. It also gave Gwen the opportunity to do something useful to atone for leading them all to believe Ianto was dead.

Owen also hoped that her absence would give Jack the chance to calm down before he ended up confronting her yet again about her headstrong attitude. It had only been three days since the last major fight between Jack and Gwen, a particularly vicious difference in opinion regarding how Jack had dealt with a difficult situation, that had come perilously close to either Gwen being retconned back to infancy or Jack being shot in the balls. He recalled the relief he’d felt when Ianto had stepped in to put an end to the argument, literally standing between the two of them, holding Jack back and shouting at Owen and Tosh to get Gwen out of the Hub. Owen shook his head as he remembered having to drag Gwen away, leaving Ianto on his own to physically tackle a red-faced, furious Jack. 

The nurse coughed loudly to draw attention to the fact that she’d been asking a question and hadn’t been able to get through.

“I was just asking, was there anything else you’ll be needing, doctor? Anything from the pharmacy maybe?”

Owen had almost forgotten the nurse was there, but a quick glance at the neat layers of blankets tucked around Ianto indicated that she’d finished off the last of the dressings and had settled him in the bed. 

“I don’t think so, love. I’ll just check what you’ve got him on.”

Grabbing hold of the notes, he turned to the page listing the medications. The saline IV with dextrose made sense, especially in light of the preliminary blood test results – Ianto was severely dehydrated and his blood sugar levels were dangerously low. The antibiotics were adequate to treat any water borne infections, but Owen would supplement those with some from his own supply. The mild sedation to calm him down so they could treat his injuries still seemed odd to Owen, despite what the doctor in A&E had said, he couldn’t imagine Ianto getting that agitated that it would require a sedative. Meanwhile, if any other medications were necessary, he had at his disposal a far superior range of pharmaceutical products than the NHS. 

“That seems adequate for now. I’ll let you know if I need anything.” Owen replied diplomatically, knowing from experience that it was never a good idea to get on the wrong side of nursing staff. “That’s all for now, thanks.” 

Leaning against the wall, Owen read through the rest of the report and couldn’t help but feel that something was badly off – most of the wounds were consistent with the types of injury that could be inflicted by fast moving debris, flung out as a result of an explosion. The burns made sense, as did the lacerations and contusions. But some of the cuts had still been bleeding and there was no way anyone could have survived for forty-eight hours in the open water. He should have died of hypothermia, but his core body temperature had only dropped a few degrees, bad enough, but not as low as it should have been if he’d been in the water since the time of the explosions. 

They had already speculated that Ianto had been taken from the Tourist Office between the two blasts and the medical evidence strongly suggested that he’d been held somewhere in the intervening time.

Spotting the bag containing the clothing that Ianto had been wearing when he’d been brought in, Owen set aside the hand-written notes and tipped the damp clothing out onto the floor, assembling it into the familiar three-piece suit ensemble that Ianto favoured for work. The soaking would have removed any traces of useful forensic evidence, but Owen had an idea that the clues he was looking for wouldn’t be microscopic in nature. The trousers had been cut from Ianto’s body when he’d been brought into the hospital, but apart from a few scorch marks they gave nothing away. However, the jacket was another matter entirely, there were only a few tears in it, and seams ripped open on the shoulders, yet Owen had seen the nurse apply butterfly stitches to a series of long cuts across Ianto’s back. The shirt was likewise missing any corresponding tears, although it was also ripped in places and there were a few buttons missing. Owen swore to himself, the only conclusion that made any sense was that Ianto had sustained those injuries whilst wearing neither jacket nor shirt. 

Owen grabbed the report again – scanning the outline diagrams of the human body that had marks on it corresponding to the presence of injuries. Swearing under his breath, Owen moved to Ianto’s side and lifted the blankets carefully to see for himself. There was no mistaking the bruises and scratches visible on hips and buttocks, dark circular bruises, corresponding to fingertips digging into flesh. 

Owen swore to himself and wondered how he going to break it to Jack that that Ianto had probably been sexually assaulted.

The sound of heavy boots pounding the corridor alerted Owen to Jack’s return and he quickly tucked the blankets back around Ianto’s legs.

It was at that point that Jack barrelled in through the door to be hushed by Owen.

“He’s dozing properly now. I think it was the warmth of the blankets and the sedative finally got the better of him.” Owen gently patted Ianto’s shoulder as he reached out to take the bag that Jack was passing to him. “He needs as much rest as he can get right now, so keep it quiet.” 

“Did he say anything at all?” Jack pulled a chair over to sit at the head of the bed, where he took in the sight of the dark circles around the younger man’s eyes, as well as the swollen eyelids and bruising in the sockets themselves. 

“Nope – he was completely out of it. Probably a good thing.”

As Owen calibrated the scanner and slowly moved it over the sleeping figure, Jack ran a hand along Ianto’s arm – the only part of his body uncovered – until he reached the IV port. 

“Why does he need this?” 

“Antibiotics as well as saline and dextrose,” grunted Owen. “He’s not been given anything to eat or had much to drink in the last couple of days by the looks of things.” 

Jack leaned closer and studied Ianto’s sleeping face as if that would give him the answers they were looking for. 

“So – we both agree that someone or something took him and then dumped him this evening?” Jack put into words the thoughts that had been plaguing him.

“Yeah – it’s the only explanation. If he’d been in the water since the explosions, he’d be dead from hypothermia.” 

Owen was relieved that Jack had accepted that something dreadful had happened, he hadn’t been looking forward to broaching the subject if Jack had been in denial. 

“How long do you think he’d been in the water before he was found?” 

“Probably since early evening, taking advantage of the darkness out there. It was lucky that copper spotted him when he did. If he hadn’t and Ianto had been stuck there all night, it could’ve been a different story.”

It occurred to Owen that whoever had dumped Ianto there had expected him to be dead by morning.

“Damn.” Jack swallowed hard, thankful for the chance discovery of Ianto before it had been too late. “How is he?”

“Nothing life threatening. Not even any broken bones, apart from a couple of fingers that have hairline fractures. No internal injuries either beyond some deep bruising on his abdomen.” Owen looked up from the scanner as he reached the bottom of the hospital bed. “Sprained ankle by the looks of the swelling. Physically, there’s nothing that can’t be mended with anti-inflammatory drugs and antibiotics. However…”

“Spit it out, Owen, what is it?” Jack picked up immediately on the hesitation in Owen’s voice and automatically took hold of Ianto’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Jack, there’s no other conclusion I can reach – it looks like he’s been tortured. There are cuts on his back that don’t match any rips in his clothes, the length and depth both indicating they could have been caused by a whip-”

“Bastards! When I find whoever did this, I’ll kill them.” 

“That’s not all.” Owen forged on, figuring that as Jack was already in a murderous mood there was nothing to lose from telling him the worst of his suspicions. “There are also other injuries, bruises on his hips-”

“Where? Show me.” Jack interrupted.

Owen sighed as he pulled aside the blankets to reveal a naked flank and pointed to the marks he’d discovered. Dark, round bruises, with small cuts as if from nails that had been pressed into the skin. 

“Oh fuck –” Jack went white as a sheet. He looked as if he was about to throw up. 

“I know.” 

“No – you don’t.” Jack shook his head sharply, his expression indecipherable, lips forming a thin, grim line as he battled to keep his feelings contained. “These weren’t made by whoever captured Ianto. They were already there. I just didn’t know they were that bad…”

“Jack, what the fuck are you talking about?” 

Owen frowned and then it dawned on him – like a ton of bricks. The greenish colouration of those bruises made them older than the others on Ianto’s body – which meant they had probably been there before the explosions. That would certainly explain the frosty atmosphere between Jack and Ianto earlier on that week. 

“You fucking bastard! There’s rough sex and then there’s this. That’s brutal! No wonder he wasn’t talking to you that day. What the hell-? You know what? I don’t think I want to know!”

“It had been a bad day.” Jack looked up, his eyes reddened, his jaw clenched. 

“You what? So that’s why you wanted to take him out to a swanky restaurant for lunch the day the Tourist Office got blown to pieces?” Owen rounded on Jack, not believing what he was hearing. He stabbed a finger into Jack’s chest. “Well, you know what? I think he’s had worse since then, so you’d better make this up to him as soon as we get him out of here. Bloody hell, Jack, what the fuck were you thinking?”

“That’s between me and Ianto,” growled Jack, looking down at the bruised and battered body of his lover, regretting more than ever his actions. “I don’t know how, but I swear I’ll make it up to him.”

“You’d fucking better.”


	7. Chapter 7

Any further discussion was halted by a mumbling from the subject of their argument. Unsurprisingly, their raised voices had woken Ianto.

“Now look what you’ve done!” hissed Owen. “I told you to keep the noise down.”

“Jack?” Ianto’s voice slurred slightly as he fought the effects of the sedative to speak up.

“Hey there. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up.” Jack tilted his head at an angle, so he could look Ianto in the eyes. They were still puffy, the tissue around them swollen and sore looking. But the fact that Ianto was slowly focusing on his face was a good sign as far as Jack was concerned. 

“S’alright… Water?” Ianto muttered. His mouth was parched and so was his throat – almost too dry to be able to swallow. He was glad that the oxygen mask had been replaced by a simple nasal cannula; at least he could make himself heard.

Owen poured some water into a plastic cup and stuck a straw in it, before passing it to Jack. A quick glance at the monitors reassured him that Ianto was recovering well.

“Small sips only, or he’ll be sick. I’ll go fetch some ice chips. Give you a chance to talk in private.” Owen scowled at Jack as he slipped out of the room, giving the two men some time on their own. 

Owen was glad that Ianto was stable, even if he was still under the influence of the sedative. He hoped that might mean that he would actually say out loud what he was feeling, especially if there was no one around but Jack. Owen figured that the two men needed to exchange words and the sooner the better. 

Jack tilted the back of the bed up before leaning forward to cup Ianto’s head in a hand and holding the straw to his cracked lips. The mechanics of helping Ianto take a drink of water helping to distract him from the feelings stirring inside his chest as he put his fears into words. 

“I thought I’d lost you.”

“Not so easy to get rid of …” Ianto said groggily after taking a few careful sips of the cool water. 

“Didn’t mean it like that.” Jack responded more sharply than he meant to. The argument with Owen had put his nerves on edge. He took a moment to calm down. Selfishly he needed to know how things stood between them. “After all I still owe you a meal. You still up for that?”

Ianto gave a crooked smile and nodded his head slightly. Even through half open eyes he could see how much that olive branch meant to Jack, but it did drag up the reason he was trying to make amends in the first place.

“You do owe me,” said Ianto eventually. Although he knew that all things considered, his dispute with Jack was the least of his problems, it was still there, an elephant in the room, perched between them on the bed. They had to deal with it, or at the very least acknowledge its presence before they could move on.

“I know. I’m so sorry, Ianto. I … I never meant…” Jack gently traced a fingertip over the blanket that caught on Ianto’s hip, unable to put into words what he regretted. He swallowed hard before continuing. “I’ve seen the damage I caused… you should have said something. Damn it, we have safe words for a reason -”

“That’s not what made me mad.” Ianto placed a hand on top of Jack’s, stilling it deliberately over the area where the bruises lay hidden from view.

“But… you just left … without saying anything. You didn’t even shout at me.” 

The morning after, it had been the lack of any form of verbal communication which had clued Jack into the fact that he’d gone too far. Ianto didn’t always stay over, but he always said ‘goodbye’, ‘see you in the morning’, or, at the very least if they’d had a fight, ‘fuck you, Jack’. It had been the silence that had been the sign that all was far from well.

“Wasn’t what you did.” Ianto bit his cracked lip slightly, tasting blood. Although there were other things on his mind, he needed to get this out of the way first. He was tired and couldn’t cope with too many secrets weighing him down. “Bloody hell, Jack, I’ve been just as rough with you on occasion, except the marks never last very long on you. It’s something we both need sometimes – I thought we’d accepted that, yeah?”

Jack nodded. It was one of the reasons he sought out male lovers, so that he could lose control on a stronger, more resilient body. It hadn’t taken long for Ianto to learn to use that to his advantage as well, much to their mutual pleasure. As a means for venting their despair or fury at the insanity and brutality of their working lives, it proved invaluable in maintaining their ability to deal with whatever the Rift threw at them, day after day. It was Ianto who shared with him the worst that Torchwood had to tackle and Jack had been delighted to discover that Ianto was neither fragile nor timid when it came to sex, especially when it came to the type of rough, dirty sex that purged his mind of the horrors that haunted him. 

“It was what you said.” Ianto muttered, half hoping Jack wouldn’t hear him.

“What I said?” Jack was baffled. He’d not even stopped to consider that possibility, he’d just assumed that he’d been too rough, that he’d physically hurt Ianto – after all that’s what the evidence suggested.

“Gwen?” Ianto whispered, uncertainly. He looked around the white walled room as if seeking her out. 

“She’s fine.” Jack looked confused, wondering if maybe Ianto had a concussion that Owen had missed. He wondered if Ianto thought she’d been hurt in the blast that had rocked the Tourist Office. “She was here briefly, but I’ve sent her to check out the place where they found you.” 

“No,” Ianto sighed wearily. “That’s what you said… screamed… shouted … Gwen’s name. Not just once, but again and again.”

The memory slammed into Jack’s skull. He’d been so damn angry – so incensed that Gwen was still questioning his decisions in front of the whole team, undermining him. Ianto was right, he’d yelled out her name. Whilst balls deep in Ianto’s arse, his hands clutching at the other man’s hips like they were the only thing keeping him anchored, he’d yelled out Gwen’s name as he’d come. No wonder Ianto had got dressed in silence and walked out that night without a backward glance. He remembered Ianto batting his hand away from his own cock angrily, he thought at the time that was because he’d already come, but of course he hadn’t. Jack’s exclamation had destroyed any arousal he’d had. In retrospect it was surprising the coffee hadn’t been flung in his face that fateful morning, rather than just slopped out of the mug that had been slammed onto his desk. 

Jack wanted to deny it, tell himself it hadn’t happened like that, make excuses for the inexcusable. But there was no going back. 

“No wonder you weren’t accepting my apologies,” feebly responded Jack.

“Despite rumours to the contrary, I do have some dignity left.” Ianto looked into Jack’s eyes and could see the deep remorse and regret. The past few days had made him even more aware of the fact that his life was too short not to forgive Jack. “Being rational about it, I know you were too far gone to know what the hell you were saying … but it still hurt.”

“I wasn’t wishing you were her … well … not like that…” Jack ran a hand through his hair, making it stick up in spikes. He floundered as he tried to explain that he wished he had a way of taking his anger out on Gwen that didn’t end up hurting Ianto.

“Jack, stop there – not helping.” Ianto reached out to take Jack’s hand and interlinked their fingers. “We’ll deal with it, OK?”

“Yeah – we will.” Jack was grateful that Ianto was willing to move forward. He’d never forgive himself if his temper lost him Ianto’s companionship. 

“So, Owen, when can I get out of here?” Ianto called out, looking towards the door to his room. He’d seen Owen sneaking back in and wanted to make sure he knew that he was able to stand up for himself as far as Jack was concerned. Before letting them know he’d been woken up he’d overheard more of their heated discussion than they realised and whilst he was touched that Owen would want to stick up for him, he was determined that what went on between him and Jack was strictly personal. 

“Not until tomorrow at the earliest.” Owen thought he had managed to enter the room quietly and hadn’t wanted to make his presence known, but he should have known that Ianto would have noticed him. “How are you feeling? And no bullshit, I haven’t got the patience for it.”

Ianto looked from Owen to Jack and back to the medic again, trying to work out what he could say that wouldn’t indicate that he had any memory of the events of the past few days.

“I feel like crap, aching all over, especially my guts.” Ianto shivered as he recalled the beating that had left him doubled up in pain. “… and I’m bloody cold, any chance of another blanket? These are useless.”

“The blankets aren’t useless, but I’ll get some more.” Owen narrowed his eyes, having noted the shudder that went through Ianto’s body. “You’re a bit hypothermic, but your core temperature’s already gone up one whole degree, which is good news.”

Owen unfolded one of the extra blankets that the nurse had left in the cabinet next to the bed and held it out to Jack, who took the hint and draped it over Ianto, mindful of the injuries that Owen had told him about.

“What the hell happened to you, Ianto?” Jack blurted out the question he’d been desperate to ask. Their personal problems had been discussed, even though they were by no means dealt with, and now, in the absence of any voluntary information from Ianto, he had no choice but to revert to being boss of Torchwood and demand answers.

Ianto had been hoping that Jack wouldn’t ask him quite so bluntly. He should have known better.

“I wish I could tell you, Jack, really I do.” Ianto replied earnestly. “But I can’t.” 

Jack picked up on the distress evident in Ianto’s reaction to his question and was thrown by the look of determination in his face. He’d seen that look before and it never boded well. A quick glance at the bedside monitor also showed elevated heart rate and blood pressure. Ianto was either lying to him or his question had triggered subconscious fears. Maybe both.

“What’s the last thing you remember?” Owen asked, also picking up on the rapid change in his patient’s stats.

“I remember fetching my coat so I’d be ready to go out to lunch with Jack. Gwen had just gone through the secure door… then there was an explosion, the wall was blown in… I was knocked off my feet, I remember hitting the floor and then nothing.” 

As far as Ianto was concerned this wasn’t a total fabrication, as everything was a blank after that until he’d woken up in Volitana’s net. However, until he knew that his family was safe, he couldn’t take any risks. As soon as he could, he would tell Jack, but not whilst there was any danger that his sister’s kids could be hurt. For now, he was feeling exhausted and hoped that Jack and Owen didn’t push him for answers, he didn’t want to make any slip-ups. 

“Bloody hell,” muttered Owen. 

“When was that? How long ago?” Ianto asked, absently touching his face, aware that the stubble on his jaw suggested he’d been held captive for longer than he thought. Despite feeling more and more drained, he suddenly realised that he still didn’t know how long he’d been missing. From Jack’s reaction when he’d first woken up it had been a while.

“It’s Wednesday night now – the explosions happened Monday lunchtime,” Jack answered, looking concerned. “We were kinda hoping you could fill in the gaps for us.”

“Like I said, Jack, I wish I could … but … I just can’t … I’m sorry.” Ianto turned his head to one side on the pillow and shut his eyes. He knew he was playing into her hands, but he had no choice. A traitorous tear slipped free from beneath his eyelids and slid down his cheek, tracked along the tube that carried oxygen and from there down into the cotton pillow case. 

“You should try to get some more sleep, Ianto.” Owen lowered the head end of the bed so it was horizontal once more and then pulled the blankets up over Ianto’s shoulders. “Give your body chance to heal. You’ve had a rough few days. OK?” 

Owen stealthily walked around the bed so that he could inject another dose of sedative into the IV line. It was obvious that Ianto had been struggling to stay awake and that he desperately needed to sleep. Neither Jack nor Owen said another word until they were certain that Ianto was sound asleep once more.

“He’s lying.” Owen was the one to break the uncomfortable silence.

“I know.” 

“Why?”

“He’s protecting someone or something.” Jack sighed heavily, idly moving his hand lightly over the blankets, stroking Ianto’s back. “That’s the only time I’ve ever known Ianto lie.”

“So, whoever it was that did a number on him is still threatening him?”

“Yes. Owen – I want you to stay here with him. Don’t leave this room.” Jack got up from the chair and reached into his coat pocket to locate a large bunch of keys.

“Where are you going?”

“To set up one of our safe houses for him.”

“Can’t we just keep him in the Hub?” Owen frowned. He understood Jack not wanting to take any risks by leaving Ianto in the hospital, but he’d rather have him where he could monitor his health. 

“No.” Jack shook his head and swallowed hard. It was one of those times that his role as leader of Torchwood took priority over his personal feelings. He had no desire to let Ianto out of his sight, but that wasn’t going to be possible. Instead, he’d do whatever he could to keep him safe. “He could be compromised – for all we know he could’ve been brainwashed. I can’t let him back inside Torchwood until we can clear him. Until we know what happened to him, he’s not going back to his house or to the Hub.”

“He’s not going to like that. He’ll think you can’t trust him.”

“He’ll understand.” Jack sighed, frustrated that just as he had taken a tentative step forward in his relationship with Ianto on a personal level, his professional role forced him to retreat two steps. “Just keep an eye on him until I get back.”

“Get Tosh to help you – she’s been worried sick, even though I told her he’s going to be alright.”

“Thanks, Owen – that’s a good idea. Do you think he’d like to stay in one of the apartments by the waterfront?”

“By himself?”

“No, I’m going to stay with him until this is over. I owe him.”


	8. Chapter 8

“Why are we doing this?” demanded Tosh, angrily slapping her hand down on the table top where she was working.

“To keep him safe,” snapped Jack.

“Wouldn’t he be safer in the Hub?”

“Do I have to remind you that he was at the Hub when he was nearly blown to pieces and then abducted?”

“But, Jack-”

“Are you going to help me with this or not, Tosh?”

“Of course I am.” Tosh gave Jack a look that made it clear that his question had been a particularly stupid one. “I care about Ianto and if I can do anything to make this whole situation one iota better for him than I will.”

It had been just after 6:00 am on Thursday morning that Tosh had been woken up by Jack calling and asking her to be ready to be picked up within half an hour. It transpired that he’d been busy all night getting the safe house ready for habitation. 

Tosh was impressed with what he’d achieved, although she had complained to him that there were nicer facilities at the safe house in Roath Park, which was also currently unoccupied. Jack countered her objections by stating that he wanted Ianto as close as possible and that the apartment looking out over the Bay between Mermaid Quay and St David’s Hotel was within easy walking distance. Or running distance for that matter. 

It took Tosh just over an hour to upgrade the surveillance cameras and electronic security locks after which Jack asked her to check the inventory, a task that Ianto usually tackled. She noted that there were quite a few items missing, from glasses and crockery to spare blankets. 

“As I don’t know where Ianto usually keeps spare supplies I’ll have to go shopping. Either that or fetch some stuff from my flat.” Tosh waved the growing list in Jack’s face.

“Buy whatever he’s going to need – I’ll personally foot the bill.” 

Jack had moved out onto the balcony, using a pair of Torchwood issue binoculars to scan the area, recording all the boats that were bobbing around in the Bay. He’d get Gwen to identify the registration numbers on them later on so they could keep a track of their movements. He figured there couldn’t be any such thing as too paranoid anymore. The glass in the windows was reflective, preventing anyone seeing into the apartment, even if the lights were on, and as soon as Jack was finished on the balcony he’d seal the doors to it in the same way that as he had done all the windows. 

“Jack – what happened in here?” Tosh was pointing at the barely concealed stains on the sofa. A chenille throw had been placed strategically covering an ominous looking area of discoloration, but it had been dislodged by Jack’s coat. She had visions of some alien having met a messy end in the living room and assumed that Ianto had probably been called on to clean up afterwards. Tosh didn’t think it wasn’t right that he’d have to stay in this place.

“Party – got out of control.” Jack shrugged, looking slightly guilty. 

He’d almost forgotten about the last inhabitant, an intergalactic traveller pulled off course by the Rift who’d had to wait for a rescue craft to come to fetch him. Ianto had been convinced that he fancied Jack, suspected that the attraction was mutual, and hadn’t been at all happy with the time that Jack spent alone in his company. As a consequence, Jack arranged for ‘company’ to be supplied out of sympathy for the man from the future, he had several contacts in Cardiff that he’d rather Ianto didn’t find out about. The trouble was that it all got out of hand when their guest decided to have a farewell party, the sort that involved sufficient quantities of alcohol, drugs and sex to generate irate phone calls to the police. Once the authorities had been mollified, the neighbours retconned and their visitor sent on his way, Jack had found himself promptly dumped in the dog house for expressing disappointment that he’d not been invited. Ianto had then arranged for the carpet to be steam cleaned, unfortunately it had never been properly aired afterwards, which was why Jack had thrown the windows wide open overnight to air the interior.

“I don’t believe it! Bloody hell, Jack. You’re putting Ianto up in one of your dens of iniquity- ” Tosh had thrown the clipboard she’d found in the hall at Jack and was about to read him the riot act when it dawned on him what he’d implied.

“No! Not my party! It was a visitor – stranded by the Rift. Trust me, that guy made me look like a blushing virgin.”

“Is that meant to make it any better? This …this place has been used for all sorts of sordid activities and you’re going to make Ianto stay here!”

“It’s the nearest safe house we have, Tosh,” sighed Jack, feeling it wasn’t going to be the first time he’d have to justify himself that day. “That’s the only reason I want him here and not in the luxurious pent house suite across town.”

“I still say we should keep him in the Hub …” muttered Tosh.

“I have my reasons. I’ll explain them later.”

“You’d better. Meanwhile, he’ll need fresh bed linen and the kitchen needs restocking. I’ll also need to get new towels and toiletries in. What about clothes?”

“I’ll go around to his house later and pick some up for him.”

“You might want to pick up some of his DVDs as well – otherwise he’s going to be bored silly, stuck here all day. Would I be right in thinking you’re not going to provide him with a lap top or phone?”

“He’ll have a comm. unit so he can contact us, otherwise the usual restrictions will stay in place.” 

Tosh’s withering look underlined what Owen had said, Ianto was going to hate being cooped up here with nothing to do. But until he told Jack what was going on, there was no choice but to keep him isolated. 

“Here, take this,” Jack opened his wallet and pulled out several fifty-pound notes. “Go shopping for whatever you think he’ll need. Take Gwen with you. But don’t bring anything back here – leave it in the Hub and I’ll fetch it over later. Meanwhile, I need to fetch some clothes for him and then get back to the hospital, see how he’s doing.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There was the usual pile of junk mail behind the front door that accumulated whenever Ianto was unable to get home for a few days. Jack sorted through it quickly to make sure there was nothing urgent that needed dealing with and then he noticed the light flashing on Ianto’s phone indicating at least one message. He’d have ignored it if it wasn’t for the fact that Ianto had been missing for two days and he was still no wiser as to what had happened to him in that time.

There were three messages and, as soon as Jack pressed play, the hallway was filled with a loud Welsh voice, the accent very similar to Ianto’s.

_“Where are you? You said you’d be over for dinner unless work held you up and then you’d call. Bloody hell, Ianto – if you didn’t want to come over you could have just said. Anyway, call me when you get this message – right. Love you, you daft sod.”_

Jack frowned. Was Ianto seeing someone behind his back? He quickly pressed the button to get the next message.

_“It’s me, Rhiannon. Please call and let me know you’re OK. It’s just that Susan from up the road, her and her mates were down Mermaid Quay and they were looking around where that explosion happened. They said there were wreaths and stuff for an Ianto Jones. I told them it couldn’t be my Ianto, because he works at the Assembly buildings – not in a bloody Tourist Office … so ring me up, tell me I’m right. I’m worried about you, is all …”_

In between relief that Ianto wasn’t involved with someone else and regret that he’d not had the tributes removed earlier, Jack felt a pang of sympathy for Ianto’s sister, thinking the worst, not knowing what had happened to her brother. The final message did nothing to make him feel any better:

_“Ianto … just call me when you get this message, please. Your mobile has been switched off all week, I can’t get through on that work number you gave me either and you’re not picking up email. Where the bloody hell have you got to?”_

Jack resolved that he’d break his rule about no contact with the outside world from the safe house by letting Ianto call his sister. He’d do it himself, but if she was anything like her brother, she’d only believe Ianto was alive if she heard from him directly. 

Once he’d crammed some casual clothes, along with a pile of DVDs, that were still sealed in their cellophane wrappers and therefore as yet unwatched, into a holdall, Jack locked the front door and dashed back to the SUV.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How is he?”

“His core temperature is back to normal. He’s no longer severely dehydrated and his blood sugar levels are much better,” reported Owen, sticking to the medical status of his patient and not discussing his state of mind, which concerned him more, but which he didn’t want to discuss with Jack. “Otherwise he’s still battered and bruised.”

“I want you to sort out his release from hospital into your care. Make sure any medications he’s gonna need are ready to take with us. I’ve got some clothes for him to wear.”

“You sure about this?” 

“Is he well enough to be moved?”

“Physically? Yes.” 

“Then I’m sure.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A shuffling sound alerted Jack to movement behind him and he swung round on the sofa, pointing his Webley at the doorway. 

Ianto leaned against the door frame, holding one hand up in mock surrender. The other was gripping hold of the crutch that Owen had left propped up by the bed. His hair was mussed, his face unshaven making him look nothing like the Ianto Jones that was the epitome of smartness at work. He was dressed in a fleece sweatshirt and jogging bottoms, loose fitting clothes that fit easily over the bandages.

“It’s just me.”

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I was hungry, thought I’d see if there was anything in the kitchen to eat.” Ianto pointed in the direction of the small kitchenette that was separated from the living room by a narrow breakfast bar.

“I can get you something,” insisted Jack as he stood up trying to head Ianto off before he reached the kitchen.

“I don’t want you to.” Ianto pushed past Jack, using his crutch to avoid direct contact. “I can do it myself.”

“You still pissed off with me?” Jack leaned against the wall as he watched Ianto pull open a cupboard door and take out a plate. 

“If you wanted to lock me up you could’ve saved yourself all this trouble and just stuck me in a cell between the Hoix and the weevils.” 

“This isn’t about locking you up-”

“Said the man on armed guard duty outside the bedroom.” Ianto’s raised eyebrow brooked no argument.

“I’m here to protect you.”

“Bit late for that isn’t it. Not unlike bolting the stable door after the horse has been carted off to the glue factory.”

“Ianto-” Jack growled in warning.

“Get out of my way, Jack.”

Ianto opened the fridge door and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Tosh did the shopping didn’t she?” 

“How do you know?” 

“She got my favourites.” Ianto allowed himself a slight smile.

“That could have been me.” 

“Nope – you’ve got no idea what I really like. You just think I live on pizza and Chinese takeaways.”

Jack sat on one of the pair of stools at the breakfast bar and watched Ianto put together a sandwich. He helped Ianto open the packet a ham, which was proving difficult with two fingers strapped together. 

“Looks good,” muttered Jack, eyeing up the ham and tomato sandwich that Ianto was carefully constructing.

“Want one?” Ianto had caught the look of hunger flash across Jack’s features. 

“I’m meant to be looking after you-”

“Do you want a sandwich? Not a difficult question.”

“Yes, please.” Jack relented. He was hungry, not having stopped to eat all day.

“You can pour some juice and find some crisps then.” 

Eager to have something to do, Jack scurried about and found the large packet of crisps in the cupboard and the new glasses that Tosh had bought. He poured out some orange juice and was not surprised to find that Ianto had made another sandwich in the same time.

They ate in companionable silence, neither man wanted to start any conversation which would threaten to spoil the temporary calm. 

Eventually Ianto stood up and nearly knocked his stool over. Jack steadied him as he tucked the crutch under one arm.

“Time for bed.” Ianto yawned. “You still going to be here in the morning?”

“Unless I get called out, yeah.” 

“OK.” Ianto nodded in acknowledgement. 

As Ianto limped towards the bedroom door he paused and turned around in time to see Jack settle back down on the lumpy sofa.

“That thing will wreak havoc with your back, you know.” 

“It’s alright. I’m not intending to sleep.” Jack thumped one of the larger lumps, hoping it would disperse.

“There’s room for two in the bed. It’s a double, about three times the size of your bed.” Ianto offered. “Be more comfortable.”

“You sure?” Jack asked, hoping he’d not misheard the implied forgiveness.

“It’s not like I’m taking you back into my bed. For a start, it’s not mine and I’m definitely not up to anything except sleeping.” 

Jack smiled sheepishly and then shucked his coat before following Ianto into the darkened bedroom. He was being given yet another chance and he was determined he wasn’t going to screw it up.


	9. Chapter 9

Although Ianto was sure he’d fallen asleep curled up one on side, his back to Jack, he woke up to find his head resting on Jack’s chest, their legs entwined and the older man’s arms possessively wrapped about him. So much for keeping a distance between them.

“Morning, gorgeous.” Jack gently kissed the top of Ianto’s head, letting him know he’d sensed the moment he’d woken up. “How are you feeling?”

“We didn’t have sex did we?” Ianto tensed up, suspicious of the fact that he was pressed up close to Jack’s mostly naked body, breathing in undiluted pheromones and that he was being cuddled.

“Does it feel like we did?” Jack asked in an innocuous tone. 

“Difficult to tell. I’m aching all over, but no… not there … still, doesn’t mean…” Ianto pondered the various possibilities before snapping at Jack: “Stop messing with my head! Did we or didn’t we?”

“No. You’re injured for a start and I’ve pushed my luck far enough as it is, without taking advantage of your offer to share this bed.” Jack sounded affronted at the suggestion that he would have been so predatory. “I may not stay dead, but I’ve no overwhelming desire for you to kill me.”

“Good, because I haven’t quite forgiven you yet.” Despite his words, Ianto couldn’t help kissing Jack’s smooth, bare chest before attempting to wriggle up the bed, avoiding putting any pressure on his sprained ankle. It was as he attempted to roll onto his back and put his head on the pillow that a series of sharp pains shot across his back, causing him to cry out involuntarily.

“What’s the matter? Where does it hurt?” Jack was immediately sitting up, concern clouding his eyes as he tried to work out what was wrong.

“My back!” gasped Ianto. 

“Roll over slowly onto your stomach and let me have a look.” Jack frowned. He recalled what Owen had said about the cuts on Ianto’s back looking like whip marks. 

Jack carefully folded the sweat shirt up making sure that the tape holding the bandages in place wasn’t stuck to the inside of it. He could see that the large dressing had come loose in the night, which didn’t surprise him as Ianto had been tossing and turning in his sleep until he’d held him close. The gauze dressing was crumpled and no longer cushioning the damaged skin beneath.

“The dressing has bunched up in the night, it’s a bit of a mess. I’ll take it off completely and see how well you’re healing. You might be able to grab a shower before I put a fresh dressing on.”

“Yes please, a blanket bath is nowhere near as fun as it sounds.” Ianto felt grimy, it had been a while since he’d last a shower and being dunked in the Bay a couple of times hadn’t made him feel any cleaner.

“Hey, trust me, I could give you a sponge bath that would make your toes curl.” Jack leaned down and ran the tip of his tongue along the dip in the small of Ianto’s back.

“I might hold you to that.” 

Ianto hid his face in the pillow, not wanting Jack to see the fact that he was smiling. From the moment he’d woken up, warm and safe in Jack’s arms, his mind had been ignoring reality for the sake of the comforting fantasy, a balm to his bruised psyche. It was as he buried his nose in the pillow that the reality of the situation hit him, the simple cotton pillow slip was a pastel colour, it wasn’t his, it smelt wrong. He wasn’t in his own bed and he didn’t have the luxury of submitting to Jack’s seductive ways. He took a sharp breath and focused on his back. Owen’s painkillers must have numbed the pain previously, because he’d not been aware of it until he’d tried to shift position.

“What’s the damage then?” Ianto asked dispassionately, as if making an enquiry about a dent on the SUV. Like the vehicle, his body belonged to Torchwood and it also needed to be kept in a good state of repair in order to fulfil its function. 

Jack felt the moment that Ianto’s mood switched, but didn’t comment. The night was over and it was getting closer to the time when he’d have to take on the mantle of Torchwood boss once more and set to one side his personal relationship with Ianto. The man lying in bed next to him was all too aware of the boundaries and was doing his best to help him, but it didn’t stop Jack hating the fact that he couldn’t wrap his lover in cotton wool and protect him. Torchwood was a heartless mistress and there were times he resented the way it dictated his life.

“Hang on. I just need to pull this tape off and … oh… I’ve got it. The steristrips are still in place, that’s good.” 

Jack frowned as he took a closer look at the ugly red welts that were carved into the skin of Ianto’s back. Although the marks were thin, there was bruising either side of the red lines that made them appear thicker. The deeper cuts were slightly raised, with a scattering of small blisters along each edge. Jack immediately recognised the telltale pattern. After a brief internal debate about the pros and cons of letting Ianto know what he now knew, he took a deep breath before stating: 

“I know what caused this.”

“Really?” Ianto asked, his voice quiet, almost nervous. He found himself wanting Jack’s comfort more than he’d thought he would. Despite his intentions of putting on a brave face, he recalled whose name he’d cried out for each time before passing out, thinking he’d never see the man again.

“Electro-whip – very fine fibres, only break the skin if a hell of a lot of force is put behind the blows. They mainly inflict pain by discharging an electric current when in contact with bare skin, more if the skin is wet.” 

Jack carefully inspected the rest of Ianto’s back and observed the faint traces of other blows that hadn’t broken the skin. Neither Owen nor the medics at the hospital would have given the slight marks a second thought, especially considering the other, more obvious, injuries. But to Jack, they told a story and he was finding it hard to rein in his anger at whoever had used such a device on Ianto, so he resorted to flippancy, desperately trying to mask how he actually felt. 

“In some cultures, it’s used in foreplay, believe it or not. In others for torture, interrogation, all depending on the conductivity of the species’ flesh.”

“Oh.” Ianto swallowed hard, fighting to keep the memories at bay.

“It must’ve hurt like hell.” Jack reached to one side so that he could grab hold of a fistful of duvet, squeezing it hard until his knuckles turned white. He wanted to kill someone. 

Ianto shut his eyes, but the recollections crowded in on him. 

_The vicious sting as the threads came into contact with sweat soaked skin… fighting to free his arms and legs from the grip of her goons that held him stretched out on the bench as she struck him over and over again. Her voice husky in a way that might have been alluring, if it were not for the circumstances._

_“I really love the pattern this leaves on humans, especially those with skin as pale as yours, the red against the white … such delicate, thin skin … just imagine what it would look like on the softer flesh of the females or juveniles… beautiful… I do believe the young contain a higher proportion of water… is that true?”_

Hurtling back to the present, via a detour to the comment made by the man with the cobweb tattoo, Ianto was suddenly aware of the precise nature of the threat that had been made when he had been semi-conscious in the hospital. Bile rose in his throat and he pushed Jack out of the way in his haste to hobble to the bathroom, just in time to lean over the wash basin and throw up the contents of his stomach. Gripping hold of the sink with one hand he twisted the tap on and let the icy cold water rinse the bowl clean, all the time scooping up handfuls to rinse his mouth and splash onto his face. It was only when he turned the tap off that he became aware of Jack standing in the doorway, his face grim.

“You remember, don’t you?”

“The whip?” Ianto looked into Jack’s eyes in the bathroom mirror. There was no point denying that. “Yes – just came back to me …” 

That was no lie. It had been Jack’s comment on seeing the marks left behind that had triggered the full recollection of his tormentor’s words and the way she’d said them, sadistic pleasure dripping like poison from every syllable. He had no doubt in his mind that people he cared about would be in grave danger if he wasn’t careful. 

“Who did this to you?” Jack’s voice was low and there was a hint of desperation about his desire to know who had hurt Ianto.

“I couldn’t see them – I was held down.” Again the truth, even though Ianto had seen her face and knew her name. 

“They still hurt?”

Jack’s voice softened as he moved away from the door to stand behind Ianto, his hands gently resting on the younger man’s hips, avoiding putting pressure on any sores. He could see from the pain in Ianto’s eyes that there was more he wasn’t saying. But at least Jack had more information about their enemy – they made use of weapons from both the past and the future, which implied they were either time travellers or rift scavengers. 

“Yeah,” Ianto admitted reluctantly. 

“Owen left some antiseptic cream that has a mild painkiller in it – let’s get you back on the bed and I’ll put some of it on for you.”

Jack looped one arm around Ianto’s waist and let him lean on his shoulder as he led him back into the bedroom. As he helped him to lie back on the bed, Jack discreetly surveyed the other injuries: the bruises, fractured finger bones, twisted ankle, black eyes, split lips and his blood boiled as he went through his internal inventory of the types of torture instruments that could have been used to inflict the range of injuries that Ianto had suffered in the two days in which he’d been missing. He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself for not having found and rescued Ianto before he’d had to go through so much pain. It galled him that he’d not been in any way responsible for Ianto’s rescue and that the only reason he was here with him now was because his captors had let him go. 

“Not your fault, Jack.” Ianto mumbled into the pillow, as he snagged hold of one of Jack’s hands that was tracing the string of bruises along his arm. “This was not your fault.”

“Maybe not, but I swear to you, when I find out who did this, I’m going to make them suffer.” 

Ianto shuddered as he fought an internal battle between telling Jack everything he knew, which might help him find Volitana and her base before she carried out any of her threats, and keeping the details to himself with the hope that he could avert disaster. He knew that Jack would move heaven and earth to protect those endangered, but he also knew that Jack was anything but subtle and that they were all being watched. Any sign that Jack was onto her would result in retaliatory strikes that Ianto would never be able to forgive himself for. 

“Hey there, it’s alright, you’re safe now.” Jack lay alongside Ianto and held him close, misinterpreting his reaction to his words. “That’s why I want you here.”

As Jack held Ianto in his arms, a stray beam of light sneaking in through the gap in the curtains lit up the pale shoulder, illuminating something that Jack hadn’t noticed earlier. A criss-cross pattern of tiny cuts, barely visible, as if the skin had been pressed against a mesh of some sort … or a net. 

A net? 

Jack’s breath caught in his throat. It had been over a century ago – when he’d first arrived in Cardiff. He’d assumed she was dead.


	10. Chapter 10

After replacing the dressing on Ianto’s back, Jack gave him a couple of strong painkillers along with a glass of fruit juice and a piece of lightly buttered toast. The fact that they were likely to knock him out for an hour or two at least, was a good thing as far as Jack was concerned. After the revelations of the morning, Ianto had become withdrawn and Jack anxious. It had been easier for Jack to leave him alone, knowing he was safely tucked up in bed and securely locked up inside the apartment. 

He’d intended for Ianto to call Rhiannon first thing that morning, but that would have to wait. In the meantime, Jack settled for sending her an email from Ianto’s account, explaining that he’d been on a training course in London and that he’d call her later. He’d also taken the liberty of claiming, on Ianto’s behalf, that his phone had been stolen. Hopefully, they could deal with that situation later, as long as Ianto was still talking to him. From what little Ianto had told Jack of his family, he knew that the relationship between the two siblings had been strained ever since he’d left Wales as soon as he was old enough to leave home. Jack hated domestic situations. He’d never been any good with families, his own included.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The atmosphere was awkward as Jack gathered the rest of his team around the long table in the boardroom. Gwen was fidgeting with a notebook and pen, taking an occasional sip from her paper cup of coffee. Tosh surreptitiously glanced up from her laptop to glance from Owen’s face to Jack’s, trying to work out which one of them she should consider mutilating first if they didn’t explain what the hell was going on. Owen was obliviously poring over the medical notes he'd swiped from the hospital.

“Have we got visuals on Ianto?” Jack asked Owen, pointing at the medic’s laptop. He’d switched the cameras on when he’d left the apartment.

“Yeah. He’s still in bed, out for the count. He should be out of it for another few hours.” Owen had been pleasantly surprised that Jack had followed his instructions and logged the dosage and timing of all medications given to Ianto. “If he gets out of bed the motion sensors will detect it and we’ll be alerted immediately.”

“Good. About time I got you all up to speed on where we – thanks for the shopping, Tosh – you got all the right stuff apparently. Also – good work on the marina details, Gwen.” 

Jack had not been back to the Hub since collecting the groceries and other items that Tosh had picked up the previous day. In the meantime, Gwen had compiled a list of all the boats and yachts that were currently moored in the Bay as per Jack’s request. He had told Gwen and Tosh to go home early, assuring them both that he’d explain everything the following morning. Owen had agreed to monitor the Rift overnight, allowing Jack to stay in the safe house with Ianto.

“Right people. We have a major situation – someone has attacked Torchwood. By blowing up our supposedly secret entrance they’ve laid their cards on the table. Basically ‘we know where you are and we can attack you without warning’. They abducted Ianto and all the evidence suggests they held him for over two days. In that time he’s been physically tortured.”

Gwen gasped out loud as Jack finally stated what they’d all been speculating about. Tosh didn’t look surprised, but her eyes flashed with barely concealed ferocity. 

“Those wounds on his back?” Jack spoke directly to Owen. “I had a good look at them this morning. They were almost certainly caused by a forty-first century electro- whip.”

“Fuck.” Owen grabbed a pen and annotated the medical report he was compiling. “Do I even want to know what that does?”

“Depends on the species.” Jack frowned as he considered the multiple uses of the device. “Sontarans use it to herd food animals, Judoon to keep prisoners in line and rumours have it that Blowfish use it for erotic stimulation. In humans, it causes intense pain, lethal if the voltage is set high enough as it stops the heart.”

“Bastards.” Owen shook his head as he added the details to his scrawled notes.

“It does, however, tell us that our enemy is making use of whatever they can find to attack us, from World War Two artillery to blow up our secret entrance, to a device from the forty-first century to inflict pain. Someone out there has been collecting weapons, scavenging from the Rift.”

“Humans?” Tosh asked. 

They’d come across collectors of Rift artefacts, but the last man had no malicious intentions, indeed he’d believed that one of them was keeping him alive. Ianto had still been busy cataloguing all the items that Torchwood had requisitioned following the death of Henry Parker.

“Not necessarily.” Jack spoke quietly. He didn’t want to share his suspicions with the others until he had more evidence. He needed them to remain objective, otherwise vital clues could be missed. 

“If it’s your fucking psychotic ex,” Owen caught Jack’s furtive look and pounced on it vehemently. “I will personally stick his sword where the sun doesn’t shine.” 

“This isn’t his style, Owen, trust me.” Jack glared at Owen, before turning his attention to Gwen. “What did you find out at the barrage?” 

“Not much, to be honest with you.” Gwen shuffled through her spiral bound note pad to refer to her findings. “The police officer at the scene had apparently been alerted by a couple walking home from the pub. He thought they were drunk and were winding him up to begin with. Then he looked over the edge of one of the locks and saw Ianto clinging onto the lower railings. He managed to get down the ladder and haul Ianto out of the water. If anyone had opened that lock gate… well, Ianto would have been drowned in minutes.”

“So, let’s see if I’ve got this straight. If this pair of pissheads hadn’t seen Ianto, in the pitch black, at the bottom of one of the locks, he wouldn’t have survived the night?” Owen reiterated sceptically. He had no more time for coincidences than Jack and the account related by Gwen just didn’t ring true.

“I guess so – yes.” Gwen frowned, hearing Owen put it like that she could tell that it did seem farfetched. 

“As for clinging onto the railings, I very much doubt he’d have been capable of that.” Owen flicked through the medical file he had on front of him. “He was barely conscious when he was brought into A&E.”

“Do we have the names of the couple that spotted him?” Jack turned to Gwen and pointed at her notebook. He was beginning to smell a rat.

“Sorry, no.” Gwen sighed. “The copper on duty said that they’d gone by the time he’d checked on Ianto and called for an ambulance.”

“How convenient.” Jack smiled mirthlessly. “Tosh – I want you to double check the CCTV in the area, see if you can locate our only other witnesses.”

“What are you thinking, Jack?” Tosh asked, although she already had her suspicions as she called up the recordings from the cameras on the barrage the previous evening. 

“It’s a bit too much of a coincidence, that’s all. Hanging there with moments left to live and then, by chance, a couple of drunks spot him just as a policeman is helpfully patrolling that very remote location.” Jack shook his head slowly. “I don’t think Ianto was abandoned there to die, he was left there deliberately so that he would be found.”

“Is that why you’re not letting him back in the Hub?” demanded Tosh.

“It wasn’t, but it gives me more reason not to. I bet you’ve not found our good Samaritans yet, have you?”

“No. No one there, except the policeman. Although the cameras don’t cover every part of the barrage, there are blind spots.”

“Oh Tosh, you don’t believe there was anyone there any more than I do, do you?” Jack smiled once more without humour as he caught Tosh’s eye and could see that she was in agreement with him.

“For God’s sake, Jack. Whatever happened to Ianto, he needs our support.” Gwen blurted out. “Hasn’t he been through enough without being kept locked up?”

“Yes, Gwen, more than you think,” snapped Jack. He was angry with Gwen, wondering if she had any idea of the harm he’d been responsible for, just because he’d let her get to him. “But if there’s any chance he’s been influenced, against his will, in any way that could jeopardise the operation of Torchwood, then I can’t take that risk.”

“You think he’s been brainwashed?” Gwen was visibly taken aback. She wasn’t sure how Jack could cope; having to make tough decisions regarding a person he was involved with. She’d found it awful enough when they’d had to deal with Beth and she’d only known her for a day or two.

“It’s a distinct possibility.” Owen piped up. Ianto had been missing for long enough for someone to have messed with his head. The fact that he’d been mentally below par as a result of Jack’s selfish behaviour wouldn’t have helped him resist any psychological programming. 

“What does he say happened to him?” Tosh asked. She wanted to know Ianto’s side of the story before believing the worst.

“He says he can’t remember –” Jack began.

“Actually, he said that he can’t tell you, Jack.” Owen pointed out astutely. “He’s been trying to tell us that there’s a reason he can’t say what he’s been through.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows as he considered Owen’s observation. He was right, again, Ianto had not actually stated that he couldn’t remember anything; he’d only told him that he was sorry, but he couldn’t tell him. Considering who Jack suspected might be behind the whole attack, he wasn’t totally surprised. 

“So, what can we do in the meantime? There’s got to be something -” 

Gwen bit her tongue, wary of coming across too stridently. She didn’t like the situation; she’d talked to Tosh about it on their way to St David’s shopping centre the previous day. Both of them were of the opinion that Ianto’s best interests were not being taken into consideration, but between them they would do what they could to look out for him. 

“Gwen, I want you to interview that policeman, the one that discovered Ianto, again – don’t be too direct. Just ask him about the evening generally, what else he’d had to deal with that night. You know the drill, distract him and see if he mentions anything that sounds wrong. Tosh – I want you to go digging for me, find out if he had any dealings with either Evans or Morris.”

“Oh fuck, you don’t think this has got anything to do with that business, do you?” Owen looked horrified. Evans and Morris were corrupt police officers who’d arrested Ianto in the past over nebulous charges and mistreated him whilst in custody. They’d both been found shot dead and dumped in the River Taff. 

“I’m not ruling anything out. You know as well as I do that after the slaughter of four high ranking police officers in their offices by a gang of rogue weevils, we can’t guarantee that there aren’t still some coppers with well founded grudges against Torchwood.”

Nobody commented on the involvement of Jack’s ex partner and brother in the events that had led to the killings in Cardiff Central Police Station. It was a sore point and one best not mentioned. If events had played out differently, Jack could have lost his entire team as a consequence of that whole fiasco.

“Fucking hell – we’ve had their SOCO’s crawling all over the Tourist Office.” Owen broke the awkward silence. “Just as well you got the place sealed off, Jack.”

It was indeed fortuitous, but it had been the anachronistic weaponry used that had prompted Jack to shut down the police investigation. As far as the authorities were concerned, it was yet another gas leak. There were times that Jack wondered if the gas board would sue Torchwood for defamation. 

“Lucky call – I’ve got the council boarding up the whole area today. No one will get in there until I say so.”

“Jack – the tributes outside, the flowers and cards?” Gwen asked nervously. “We should do something about them. They’re attracting attention.”

Jack groaned as the spectre of Rhiannon’s phone messages rose once more to haunt him. He’d have to do something about that as soon as possible, Ianto wouldn’t forgive him for letting his sister believe he was dead. 

“What do you suggest?”

“I’d like to collect them up and take them to show Ianto. Let him know how well thought of he is. Might cheer him up a bit.”

“That’s a … thoughtful idea, Gwen.” 

Jack’s gut reaction would have been to throw all the condolence messages into the nearest bin, but Gwen’s idea had merit. However, he was of the opinion that it was going to take more than a few ‘sorry you’re dead’ cards to make Ianto feel anywhere near better about the whole situation. 

“He’ll appreciate that. Thank you. But I’ll be the one to take them over.” 

“But-”

“No, Gwen. I want you to get onto that copper now, before we lose track of him. Tosh, you know what I want you to do. Owen – take a break and I’ll expect you over at the safe house this afternoon, I want you to carry out a thorough exam of Ianto.”

Owen was about to ask what Jack suspected but decided that question would best be kept until he had the chance to speak with him in private. He could just tell that Jack knew more than he was letting on. Yet again.


	11. Chapter 11

Jack had shoved the cards and notes that weren’t too sodden with rainwater into a carrier bag. Gwen had agreed that the flowers and other tokens were best left where they were, acknowledging the kindness of those who’d gone to the trouble to leave them there in the first place.

As Jack laboriously unlocked the three key-operated locks and the two electronic locks on the front door, it occurred to him that maybe Ianto did have a point in feeling like he’d been locked up like a common prisoner. He’d have to do something to amend that impression.

However, before he got around to saying anything, he stopped short as he saw Ianto at the balcony door, gazing through the glass in the direction of Roald Dahl Plass, one hand pressed flat against the glass and the other braced against the wall. Thinking that maybe he was staring at the council workers erecting a barricade fence around the scene of destruction that had once been the Tourist Information Office, Jack sighed and walked across the room to join Ianto. It was then that he saw that the object of Ianto’s fascination was the carousel and not the former main entrance to the Torchwood base. Before he had the chance to ask Ianto what was on his mind, he’d turned away from the view and had perched himself precariously on the arm of the sofa.

“What’ve you got there then?” Ianto pointed at the Tesco’s carrier bag. “Can’t be food, the fridge and the pantry are already full. Looks like you’re planning to keep me here for the foreseeable future.”

Jack knew a distraction when he saw one and he made a mental note to check the CCTV footage to see what had captured Ianto’s attention.

“These have been piling up at the bottom of the steps in front of what used to be the Tourist Office.” Jack passed the bag to Ianto. “Gwen thought you’d like to see what people have been saying about you when they thought you were dead.”

“That’s … very kind of her.” Ianto looked dubious as he accepted the bag and tipped the contents onto the small Formica topped coffee table. “I don’t suppose anyone else know I’m not dead, apart from you lot?”

“Gwen’s ex-partner – Andy Davidson, he gave us the heads up that a body had been found that matched your ID. I guess he knows it was you. Other than that, no one yet. Whilst we’re hunting down whoever attacked us it seems prudent to keep that fact to ourselves.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Ianto nodded, looking up from a touching card from a couple of American tourists, all the way from Arizona, who’d dropped by the previous week for information about boat trips. It was signed Tara and Lyssa, who wrote that they were deeply saddened to hear he’d been killed by a pointless gas leak.

“Gas leak?” Ianto tutted. “Not very original that. But then again, I imagine you didn’t bother to check the cover ups database-”

“I know,” interrupted Jack, half smiling as he noted that Ianto was beginning to revert to form. “But seeing as you weren’t around to give us the benefit of your imagination, I had to wing it.”

“Fine. It would probably be best if you left it to me to come up with a cover story to explain that I wasn’t killed after all.” Ianto rolled his eyes at the irony.

“Yeah – well, about that,” Jack grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl and started to buff it to a shine on his coat. “You might want to try it out on one person to begin with … perhaps your sister?”

“My sister?” Ianto shut his eyes and prayed he’d totally misheard what Jack had just said.

“Yeah – she kinda heard from some of her friends who’d been down here on some girls’ night out, that there were wreaths and tributes left for Ianto Jones.”

“And just how would you know this?” Ianto asked, dreading the answer. He had awful visions of Jack and his sister sharing tittle tattle over a skinny latte.

“When I went over to your place to collect some clothes, I saw there were messages on your landline phone and I checked them – they were all from her.”

“Oh shit. Oh fuck … what the hell am I going to tell her?”

Jack noted the way Ianto let his head flop back against the back of the sofa and figured he may as well confess all at once.

“She emailed you as well. She was worried. It's Ok though, I sent her an email back explaining you’d been in London on a training course –”

“You what?” exclaimed Ianto, horrified at the thought of Jack sending messages to his sister. He had damn good reasons for keeping his family separate from his work.

“From your email address naturally.”

“Oh, that makes it perfectly alright then.” Ianto shook his head, unsure why he was letting this get to him so much, especially considering the other things he had to worry about.

“Exactly. Anyway, seems she was pretty pissed with you for skipping out on a dinner date as well, on Monday.” Jack glared at Ianto. “You didn’t tell me you’d got plans to go to hers for dinner?”

“That would be because it was a last-minute arrangement I made when I decided I couldn’t bear to be in the same room as you outside of work commitments.”

“Oh.”

Jack came crashing down from his high horse. Ianto had every right to arrange to see his family anytime he wanted, especially after the man he was having sex with called out another person’s name in the height of passion. Even Jack recognised that as the worst type of sexual faux pas and this timely reminder of his poor behaviour made him back down immediately.

“Look, Jack, I know the rules. No phone lines in the safe houses. But I really need to talk to her. Just a minute – thirty seconds even. I could probably even manage to get some message through in ten seconds. Please?”

“It’s alright, you can use my phone.” Jack reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his own phone. “I also took the liberty of telling her that your phone had been stolen.”

“That much is probably true. I take it I didn’t have it on me when I was found?”

“No – no phone, wallet, keys, nothing.” Jack shrugged apologetically.

“Shit. They were all in my jacket pockets.” Ianto hated to think that Clytemnestra and her goons had access to his home as well as the contact details for all of his friends and family.

“I’ve made sure your house is secure, don’t fret about that.” Jack patted Ianto’s knee, realising that he’d be worried sick about it being broken into by whoever had held him.

It wasn’t his home that Ianto was worrying about most. However, he was grateful that Jack was prepared to let him call Rhiannon. If he hadn’t, he would have had to break out of the apartment and use a pay phone.

“Thank you. Perhaps I can make that phone call now, please.”

“You make it sound like you’re in custody.” A nervous smile tweaked at the corner of Jack’s mouth.

“Aren’t I?” Ianto responded sharply.

“Ianto-”

“No, Jack – I understand.” Ianto rubbed his hand over his face. He knew the drill better than most. “Protocol dictates that any Torchwood operative held by a hostile entity for a period of longer than six hours be submitted to de-briefing and thorough analysis for possible alien influences before being permitted back into restricted areas.”

Ianto could quote every regulation in the book if required.

“Remind me again why we didn’t do that when you came back after being out for a few months.”

“Good question. You should’ve done. It was Gwen’s call and she dropped the ball. You could’ve informed her of her obligations.”

“You distracted both of us … besides I had my own ways of checking you weren’t under any alien influence.”

“Oh yes …” Jack looked wistful for a moment. “Not exactly conventional but worked for me.”

“Jack – there’s always the mind probe. It didn’t cause Beth’s head to explode, so I guess it’s safe for humans-”

“Beth wasn’t human.” Jack contradicted Ianto quickly. He pressed his phone into Ianto’s hand. “Anyway, just call your sister and let me decide how to figure out if it’s safe to take you back into the Hub.”

Ianto sighed, he didn’t want to make Jack suspicious, but he knew that the only way he could ensure the safety of others depended on him getting back inside Torchwood. One glance out of the window at the slowly revolving fairground ride, a brightly coloured focal point on the grey waterfront, reminded him of his responsibilities. At the end of the day he’d signed up to protect humanity from alien threats and he’d do whatever it took to achieve that, no matter what it would cost him. He turned away from Jack and took the phone into the bedroom, despite knowing that it would only afford him a semblance of privacy. He had no doubt that Torchwood would be monitoring and recording his call. They were probably not the only ones either, not if his captors had accessed the numbers stored on his missing phone.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, Ianto had a feeling the call to his sister was going to take a while. He lifted his injured ankle up, remembering Owen’s instructions about keeping it elevated to reduce the swelling.

“Hi there, it’s me … yes, I know …” Ianto held the phone at arm’s length as his sister let rip and called him every name under the sun for having worried her sick. “I’m really, really sorry about that … no, it was this guy at work, got sick the same day he was meant to be going on the training course, so I had to go last minute … I meant to call you and cancel dinner, really I did, but some bastard nicked my phone at the station … yeah, tell me about it, it’s getting worse … no, I’m fine, really I am.”

He winced as he listened to Rhiannon relate the story told to her by her friend who’d seen the heap of flowers by the police barrier in Mermaid Quay.

“Ianto Jones at the Tourist Office? No, never met him … common enough name.” It irked Ianto that he had to resort to covering his tracks with his closest living relative, especially when he then had to reject her invitation to go around for supper. “No, I can’t … not tonight … been snowed under since I got back. Maybe next week?”

Then Ianto lay back on the pillows and shut his eyes as his sister embarked on her standard diatribe about the fact that her kids had almost forgotten what he looked like and that they’d probably have left home before he got around to visiting again. It was when she went on to remind him that it was going to be Mica’s birthday in a week’s time that he shot upright, disregarding the aches the sudden movement triggered.

“Rhi? Keep an eye on the kids, won’t you? There are some dodgy characters around … Hey, I’m allowed to worry about them, only niece and nephew I’ve got. Yeah … I’ll try my best to come over at some point that day … I’ll send a card and some cash in the post …” Ianto frowned as he heard his sister swear as if just remembering something. “What? Addressed to me? Rhi?”

Ianto stared at the phone in disbelief as he heard his sister in the background rummaging around with what sounded like a heap of paperwork bigger than the one on Jack’s desk. He could have sworn she’d said she’d got something in the post for him. Perhaps she meant she’d been about to put something in the mail for him. Either way it didn’t make any sense. His mind wasn’t put at ease when she came back to the phone triumphantly announcing to him that she’d opened it for him.

“Don’t tell me you’ve just opened a letter addressed to me – Rhi? Have you? Bloody hell, I thought you knew how much that pissed me off … no, it doesn’t make it alright because it came through your letterbox … what? Nothing in it? Anything on the envelope – return address or anything? Post mark? Oh? you’re right, that is weird. Hang onto it for me would you, I might recognise the writing. Put it somewhere out of reach of the kids as well.”

Ianto wondered how the hell he was going to get hold of the envelope. Just because Rhiannon didn’t see anything inside didn’t mean it was empty.

“Look, I’ve got to go now – boss is breathing down my neck. Yeah … he does that a lot. See you soon. Sorry you were worried. Yeah – you can tell Johnny he was right and I am too bloody boring to get myself blown up. Yeah, love you, too. Bye for now.”

Ianto disconnected the call and then held the phone out in the direction of the open doorway.

“I thought you liked it when I breathed down your neck?” Jack smirked as he pushed away from the doorframe to take back his phone.

“You could at least pretend not to have been eavesdropping.”

“What’s been sent to your sister’s address?” Jack asked, cutting to the chase directly with no further preamble.

“Um … an empty letter.”

“What was on the envelope?”

“Jack … please don’t ask me.” Ianto leant forward, holding his head in his hands despairing. He knew it was probably pointless avoiding telling Jack what his sister had told him, but he also knew full well that he’d not be able to hide his reaction.

“Hang on a minute.” Jack unclipped the cover of his wrist strap and pushed a few buttons. “Internal surveillance is off now.”

“What?” Ianto frowned. Naturally he realised that all Torchwood safe houses were wired for sound and visuals, not to mention the motion sensors in the flooring and the air con filters that analysed the chemical constituents of the air. If Jack was switching that all off it meant he was giving Ianto a chance.

Jack darted back into the living room and grabbed one of the cards from the coffee table. Sitting on the bed next to Ianto he sketched a rough looking spider’s web on the back and pushed it under Ianto’s nose.

“Here, something like this?”

“Shit.” Ianto sighed heavily.


	12. Chapter 12

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Jack said, carefully observing Ianto’s reaction to the sketch he’d drawn.

“How did you know?”

“Later – I need more from you before I can be sure. If I ask you questions, think you could maybe just say yes or no?”

“Maybe.”

“Not a promising start,” muttered Jack. “Right, let’s have you on your stomach – come on, roll over.”

Jack gently pushed Ianto back onto the bed and helped him turn over onto his front. He quickly shed his coat and unlaced his boots before throwing them to one side, and then climbed onto the bed so he could straddle Ianto’s hips.

“You do know this isn’t exactly an orthodox way to question anyone.”

“I do know that’s not the first time you’ve criticised my interrogation technique.” 

Jack leant forward and started to rub small circles either side of Ianto’s spine at the base of his skull. He then pulled the t-shirt up and over Ianto’s head, so he could access bare skin.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it feel like?” Jack couldn’t resist letting Ianto feel how his own body was reacting to the position and the sensation of having Ianto between his thighs. It was an automatic response and badly timed, especially if Ianto’s glare was anything to go by.

“What the fuck?” Ianto squirmed in aggravation. “Jack, I’ve told you before - your dick isn’t a magic wand, you can’t just wave it and make everything better.”

“You’d be surprised at the healing power of my cock.” 

“Oh, please tell me you didn’t just say that.”

“Anyway, this isn’t about me. It’s about getting you to relax. You’re tense as hell – sprung tighter than a spring.”

“Are you surprised?” Ianto huffed as he buried his head in a pillow grasped tightly between clenched fists.

“OK. Question time … just nod your head if I’m on the right track.”

Jack focused on working out a knot in Ianto’s undamaged shoulder as he considered his words.

“The individual responsible for doing this-” 

Jack gently kissed the bandage covering the cuts on Ianto’s back.

“And this-” mumbled Jack as he slid a hand under Ianto’s abdomen to tenderly stroke the bruised flesh. “I’m thinking they were female. Yes?”

Ianto shuddered and then nodded jerkily. 

“Got a thing about long black dresses?” 

Another nod.

“Heavy smoker I recall. Opium as well as tobacco if memory serves me right.”

Yet another nod, barely perceptible but still there. 

“You’re doing fine.” 

Jack stooped down to press a kiss to Ianto’s cheek. He was beginning to scratch the surface of what Ianto had suffered and was amazed that he was holding it in as well as he was. 

“Always had a fondness for boys and girls. Not that I have any problem with that you understand.”

Despite his words, Jack really hoped she’d not done further invisible harm to Ianto. 

A shrug from Ianto put Jack’s mind to rest on one count. 

Just one more detail he had to confirm.

“She also possessed the most resplendent set of cranial fins I have ever seen on a female blowfish.”

“How … how did you know?” Ianto shuddered under Jack’s body, only to feel strong hands steadying him.

“You’ve got the imprint of her web on your shoulder. Saw it there this morning.”

“Oh.” Ianto bit his lip, ignoring the pain caused as he tore open a barely healed split.

Jack swiftly moved off Ianto and then pulled him into his arms, physically broadcasting messages of reassurance and support.

“Would the phrase ‘the female of the species is deadlier than the male’ mean anything to you, Ianto?” Jack whispered the words into Ianto’s ear, not releasing him from his protective embrace.

“You…you… know her?” Ianto breathed the words hesitantly into the warmth of Jack’s neck. Despite her taunts, he’d not allowed himself to believe half of what she’d said to him whilst holding him captive. 

“We go way back. I thought they’d got rid of her.” Jack shut his eyes as memories flooded back of his early days in Cardiff. “Trust me, Ianto, I’m gonna find her and this time I’m gonna finish her off for good.” 

“No more evasions, Ianto – I need answers,” Jack stated, his voice harsher than before. “What does she want you to do and just who is she threatening?”

Ianto froze. Despite a strong suspicion that Jack seemed to have more than a passing acquaintance with Volitana, he couldn’t trust Jack not to overreact and place his family in danger. He regretfully shook his head slowly, knowing he was risking Jack’s wrath.

“OK, I guess that’s kinda breaking the rules – you can’t answer that sort of question by nodding your head.” Jack rolled over onto his back, pulling Ianto onto his chest. “Why don’t I tell you what I know about her first? Maybe we could compare notes?”

“OK.” Ianto agreed, wanting confirmation that they were both talking about the same person, although the chances of there being two psychopathic, matriarchal Blowfish hanging out in South Wales seemed unlikely. “That sounds like a plan.” 

“It was back when I was working for Alice and Emily – part of my job entailed rounding up rogue aliens that were causing trouble. Blowfish were a problem – they were getting involved in petty crimes, much the way they still are.”

“Like stealing sports cars, you mean?”

“Yeah, except in those days they were stealing horses. But they were dealing in drugs back then too.”

“Your friend John Hart, he was in cahoots with that one…”

“I’ve been thinking about that.”

Jack frowned. Although he’d told Owen that he was certain that his ex partner had nothing to do with the attack and subsequent abduction of Ianto, he’d often wondered why his old partner from the Time Agency chose to team up with a Blowfish when he’d first chosen to visit Cardiff. He really hoped that John wasn’t involved.

“Perhaps they hooked up through some sort of league of intergalactic criminals?” mused Ianto. “Galaxy’s Eleven?”

“Don’t ever let him hear you say that, it would give him ideas.” Jack smiled, appreciating the fact that Ianto’s dry wit had survived the ordeal he’d been through. “Anyway – Blowfish have been making Cardiff their home since Victorian times, looking back on it I often wonder if they all arrived at one time, maybe on a crashed ship. For a while it was just the younger ones we were catching, stealing jewellery, breaking into warehouses by the docks and getting drunk on stolen liquor.”

“Juvenile fish delinquents – ‘sprats’? What happened to them?”

“Alice and Emily operated a zero-tolerance policy – any Blowfish caught were shot. Bodies wrapped in sacking, weighted down with rocks and dumped in the sea.”

“Sounds a lot like Torchwood One to me.”

“You’ve got a point there. Yvonne would’ve loved Alice and Emily.” Jack blocked the images that his baser instincts were summoning of the three of them together.

“So, if Torchwood cleared the streets of Blowfish, why are they still here?”

“Only ever caught the young males – never the older ones or the females. They were too clever for that.” Jack pressed his lips together firmly before making the decision to tell Ianto exactly how well he knew their current adversary. “That’s why I got sent undercover. My mission was to find out what they were up to.”

“Why do I have a feeling this story doesn’t have a happy ending?” Ianto reached out to take hold of Jack’s hand. He’d heard enough of Jack’s late-night confessions to recognise the tone that came from remembered suffering. He had no doubt that this was yet another tale of pain and death.

“Because you know everything?” Jack squeezed Ianto’s hand gratefully accepting the unspoken support being offered. “Turned out the adult Blowfish weren’t into petty crime because they were too busy running every major crime ring in the city. They had their fins in everything from opium dens to brothels.”

“Sounds like a Blowfish mafia.”

“Yeah, except instead of a Godfather-”

“They had a Godmother?”

“Yeah, though she was, without doubt, one of the most unholy characters you’ll ever meet. And that includes me, in case you were wondering.” 

“And you were sent in to infiltrate her organisation?” 

“Someone had to. They were cutting opium with their own synthetic drugs and increasing the addiction rate, cornering the market as well. Just like now, addicts need money to feed their addiction and that’s when the crime rate escalated out of control. The whole situation was getting out of hand.”

“What about the police? Weren’t they doing anything?”

“She was controlling all the law enforcement agencies, such as they were at the time, through extortion and blackmail.”

“Oh shit, this is starting to sound horribly familiar.” Ianto thought back to the problems they’d been having with certain factions within the Cardiff Police Department. 

“Doesn’t it just?” Jack agreed grimly. That was why he’d set Tosh the task of investigating the police officer who’d ‘discovered’ Ianto washed up on the barrage. 

“So, they were allowed to get away with it?”

“It was left to Torchwood to shut her down. Except apparently we didn’t.”

“You said you went undercover.” 

“Yeah – that’s why I think I know what you’ve been through.” Jack ran a finger tip across the bandages on Ianto’s back. “She was a sadistic bitch then and I don’t suppose she’s mellowed with age.”

“Probably not.” Ianto admitted. “I take it that she had you killed?”

“Yeah – don’t ask for the details, because I’m not telling.” Jack gripped hold of the hand that Ianto had placed in his. He recalled only too well how he’d been brutally mutilated and left for dead. “My body was dumped outside a bar on the docks. She had me killed as a message to Torchwood to stay out of her business. Meanwhile, she already had someone working on the inside. He’d been told that if he refused to co-operate his family would suffer – sound familiar?”

Although Ianto didn’t reply, he became even paler, confirming to Jack what he suspected. 

“Yeah well, one look at what was left of my body was more than enough for him. Poor guy tried to steal insurance for him and his family from the vaults– except Emily caught him.”

“I guess he didn’t get to live happily ever after?”

“Nope. Emily had a way of making people speak– didn’t take her long to find out what he’d been doing. Two days later he was pulled out of the Bay, throat slit and pockets turned inside out. Just like so many victims of mugging back then.”

“What about his family?”

“Disappeared,” shrugged Jack. “I never did find out if it was Emily or the Blowfish.”

“Fuck.” 

Jack could feel Ianto trembling against him. 

“Ianto – you’ve gotta tell me. I can help.” Jack sat up abruptly and grabbed hold of Ianto by the arms. “She’s threatened your sister and her family, hasn’t she?”

“Yes.” Ianto felt a flood of relief at finally allowing himself to divulge the truth to Jack. “Not just them.”

“Tell me.”

“The carousel. She showed me pictures of it. Told me she could launch a strike on it just like the one on the Tourist Office.” Ianto breathed out slowly as he remembered coming around at one point to find a flyer for the Mermaid Quay Harbour Festival shoved under his face. “The Festival – it’s next week. There will be families and kids. If I don’t do what she wants me to…”

“Damn – we need to find out how they managed to attack us from the water and make sure she fails.” Jack bit his lip as he realised in hindsight why Ianto had been gazing out of the window in the direction of the Plass. “In the meantime, you have to go ahead as if you’ve not said a word. Do whatever it was she asked you to. Tomorrow I’ll take you back to the Hub.”

“What?”

“You heard, Ianto. Do you trust me?”

“Of course.” Ianto didn’t want to tempt fate by adding the phrase ‘with my life’, however much he might believe it. “Why?”

“Because I’m gonna have to use you as bait, that’s why. But I swear I won’t let anything happen to your family. Got that?”

Jack hugged Ianto tight to his chest. He wished he could guarantee Ianto his safety as well, but he owed it to him not to make false promises. Although he’d rather find an alternative means of landing a certain fish, time was of the essence.


	13. Chapter 13

“What are you going to tell the others?” 

Ianto sat on the edge of the bed as Jack helped him into a pair of loose-fitting jeans. Although he’d tried to insist that he could manage on his own, as soon as he’d reached down, the muscles in his shoulder had gone into spasm. However weird it felt having Jack getting him into his pants rather than trying to get him out of them, he was grateful.

“Nothing. It stays between us. For now.” Jack stood up and held out one hand to help Ianto to his feet. “Up you get and lean on me, your ankle’s still swollen so don’t give me any crap about being able to stand on your own two feet without falling over.” 

“They won’t understand why you’ve changed your mind about letting me go back to work,” grumbled Ianto, whilst clinging onto Jack as he pulled the jeans up over his hips.

“What? An abrupt U-turn in policy from me?” Jack looked incredulous. “They won’t understand, but it won’t make them suspicious. I do it all the time.”

“Well there is that I guess.” Ianto pressed his lips together thoughtfully as he pondered the capricious leadership style that epitomised Jack Harkness. “Never thought I’d witness the time that your inconsistency was a good thing, but there you go.”

“And I want Owen to give you a full body scan, just in case there’s anything else he missed,” stated Jack emphatically.

“I’ll be fine, Jack,” protested Ianto. “No broken bones after all.”

“Says the man who kept waking up through the night begging for painkillers.” Jack sighed. He’d stayed awake listening to Ianto murmur in his sleep, his nightmares breaking through the surface enough times to give Jack a vivid picture of what fears were plaguing his lover. He’d not wanted to give him too many strong painkillers and end up trapping him in his nightmares. 

“That’s only because you wouldn’t let me take two at once.”

“Much as the idea of having you drugged up to the eyeballs and unable to resist my advances is an interesting thought, there’s a time and a place, Ianto. And what’s more, you’re right about the bed – it does smell.”

“So, you’re going to let me sleep in my own bed tonight?” asked Ianto, hopefully.

“That’s not what I said. And, no, you’re not going back to your place by yourself. We need to make sure that anyone watching is under the impression that I don’t know who attacked us and kidnapped you. The best way to do that is if I don’t let you out of my sight.”

“Jack- I’ve been thinking.” Ianto frowned, wondering how he was going to persuade Jack to go along with his idea.

“What is it?”

“Perhaps you should use the mind probe on me.”

“No!” protested Jack. “Why on earth would you suggest that?”

“Because …well, it occurred to me that maybe there’s more to this whole matter than meets the eye.” Ianto rubbed his face worriedly. “Perhaps I was brainwashed after all. Maybe she… maybe she did do something to me and it gets triggered off when I get inside the Hub.”

“Not happening, Ianto.” Jack gently pushed Ianto back down onto the bed and crouched down between his knees and gave him a stern look. “Do you think I’m gonna be able to keep Tosh, Gwen – or even Owen for that matter – from hovering over you? I wasn’t the only one worried sick about you. Besides, have you any idea what Tosh would do to me if I so much as put you in the same room as that damn mind probe?”

“Ah, I see, this is all about self-preservation isn’t it, sir?”

“Too damn right, Ianto – have you seen what she can do with those heels?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they arrived at the Hub, there was no Gwen to question Jack’s motives, she was out, having headed straight for the police station to ask after the policeman who’d accompanied Ianto to the hospital. After depositing Ianto in the autopsy bay for Owen to examine, Jack called Tosh to his office.

“What have you got for me, Tosh? I need some good news.” Jack looked up from the pile of paper work that had accumulated on his desk since he’d left work the previous day. 

“How’s Ianto? I see he’s still using a crutch. Why couldn’t you have got Owen to visit him in the safe house? What made you drag him in? Did you make him walk? Why bring him in at all – I thought you said he posed a security risk?”

“Whoa there!” Jack held up his hands, shocked at the onslaught he’d come to associate with Gwen rather than Tosh. “I was hoping for answers, not the third degree. What’s with you?”

“You.” Tosh took a seat opposite Jack without releasing him from her glare. She crossed her legs at the knee and began to count off her reasons to challenge Jack on her fingers. “First of all, you set Ianto up in that crappy flat and then you don’t let any of us come around to see him. You’ve been with him since yesterday afternoon and he comes in looking like death warmed over. What the hell have you done to him, Jack?”

“What?” Jack frowned in disbelief. “You think I’d do anything to hurt him? What do you take me for?”

“No, it’s not that … it’s just that you’ve been keeping things from us again.” 

“I should’ve guessed you’d be too damn smart not to see through me.” Jack smiled indulgently and then slowly breathed out as he rested his elbows on his desk propping his chin on folded hands. “I can’t tell you anything, not yet.”

“Why not?” 

“You care about Ianto don’t you?” Jack spoke slowly, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘care’.

“Of course I do – he’s my friend. Oh-” Tosh paused as she took on board the implication of Jack’s words. “You’re doing this to protect him?”

“If only I could.” Jack sighed. “Put it this way, I’m doing my best at damage limitation.”

“Is Ianto still in danger?” asked Tosh narrowing her eyes.

“This is Torchwood, Tosh, you know the answer to that question,” said Jack bitterly. “Meanwhile, what have you got for me? Anyone around on the barrage when Ianto was found, apart from that dodgy copper? Have you found the mystery couple yet?”

“A few kids on bikes, but they were wearing hoodies, impossible to identify them. But, no sign of any couples, drunk or otherwise. The policeman was there, seemed to be listening to an incoming message on his radio before heading for the place where Ianto was left. That much rings true. But you were right, Jack – he knew exactly where Ianto was going to be.”

“There are times when I hate being right. Damn.”

“Gwen’s hoping to track him down at the station. According to her contact, he’s on duty later this morning.”

“Fine.” Jack idly stroked the piece of coral on his desk, finding it soothing when he was on the verge of taking out his impatience on his team. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any further finding out how those bastards managed to fire a missile at the side of the Tourist Office in broad daylight without anyone seeing a thing?”

Tosh frowned and absently brushed her fringe back from her eyes as she tried to gauge how Jack would take her suggestion.

“Jack – we’ve checked the forensic evidence along with satellite images of the shipping in the Bay preceding the attack and there’s no sign of anything. But what if the missile was launched from underwater?”

“What are you suggesting? Submarines in the Bay?” Jack wondered if she’d found out about the Torchwood sub. Ianto had discovered it several months ago, after finding records in the archives concerning its regular maintenance schedule.

“It’s the only possible explanation.” 

“That would explain how they grabbed Ianto from under our noses.” 

Jack glanced out of the glass window across the Hub, trying to catch sight of Ianto. It didn’t escape him that if Tosh’s speculation proved true, it would mean that there was nothing idle about the threat made to the carousel in the Plass. 

Any further discussion was halted as the alarms sounded on the cog wheel entrance. The doors swung open to reveal Gwen, looking despondent until she caught sight of Owen helping Ianto up the stairs from the autopsy bay.

“Ianto! Oh my god – how are you, pet?” Gwen dashed over to help Ianto to the sofa. “Can I get you anything, love? Tea, coffee? Are you hungry? Have you had breakfast yet?”

“Fine. No thank you. Owen says I can’t. I’m not hungry and yes, Jack made me scrambled eggs this morning.” Ianto responded to each of Gwen’s questions with only a ghost of an eye roll. “Anything else?”

“Don’t you dare, Gwen.” Owen pointed a finger at Gwen, warning her off. “Give him a break, for fuck’s sake.”

“I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.” Jack scowled as he clattered down the metal steps from his office, Tosh following behind him.

“He wasn’t there– apparently a family emergency cropped up and he sent in a message asking for compassionate leave for the rest of the week.” 

“Bullshit.” Owen opined loudly.

“I’ve gotta agree with Owen – sounds like a lame story. I take it you checked out his home address?”

“Of course I did.” Gwen snapped. “I’m not stupid. I got his address from the desk sergeant and called by there on the way back. Neighbours haven’t seen him since yesterday morning.”

“Great. There goes that lead.” Jack rubbed his hand through his hair in frustration.

“Hang on – there was something.” Gwen reached into the pocket of her leather jacket and pulled out a mobile phone. “It’s yours, Ianto. Got handed in by the ambulance crew – probably slipped out of your pocket.”

Ianto took the phone cautiously and inspected it carefully. It looked like his. He switched it on and shrugged as it came to life. 

“Yep – it’s mine. But …” he frowned, trying to remember when he’d last had it on him. He thought that Volitana had taken it from him. Maybe it had been put back into his jacket pocket before they’d dumped him? It didn’t make sense.

Then the screen lit up informing him of several missed messages. Scrolling through those sent by his sister, he suddenly stopped and swore under his breath.

“Ianto, what is it?” Jack asked, looking concerned.

“Message here from my mam– wants me to get in touch.” Ianto looked paler than usual and was biting his lower lip.

“But-”

“Yep, she’s dead. Has been since before I left home for London.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Give that to me!” snarled Jack snatching the phone from Ianto’s hand.

“What’s going on?” asked Gwen, momentarily confused.

Jack was tight lipped, he knew exactly what was going on, but wasn’t ready to let the rest of the team in on what he’d managed to get from Ianto. He scanned the list of text messages sent to Ianto’s phone since he’d gone missing, wincing as he saw the ones Rhiannon had sent and then the one purporting to be from Ianto’s long dead mother. The time stamp for it struck a nerve.

There was no doubt in his mind who’d sent the message, but what worried him more was how much she appeared to know about Ianto. The fact that she’d had a letter delivered to his sister’s home, had made an indirect threat to his niece and now was messing with his head by having a text sent to him from his dead mother suggested that she’d been building up a profile on the young Welshman from before his abduction. It was beginning to look more and more like she’d targeted Ianto specifically and that scared him.

“Someone’s fucking with my head, Gwen.” Ianto spoke up wearily, shaking his head slightly.

“But-” Gwen started to protest, sensing that something was being kept from her. 

“Leave it, Gwen. Does he look like he wants to talk about it?” Owen sat down on the sofa next to Ianto, tucked a cushion behind his head and gently pushed him backward. “Here you go, just sit back a bit, you’re not looking so good.”

Ianto let out a small groan as his head spun a little, but then realised that Owen was allowing him the chance to shut his eyes and close off the questions that Gwen had queuing up ready to fire at him.

“What’s wrong with him?” Jack barked at Owen. He hadn’t got an update on Ianto’s medical condition and he hoped that it wasn’t deteriorating.

“Slight hypotension and mild bradycardia, just needs to sit back and close his eyes. No more questions for now.” 

Owen hoped Jack wouldn’t call him on his bullshit, but it was going to be the only way to get Gwen to give them all a break. He decided he would talk to Jack on his own and find out exactly what was going on.

Jack nodded his head at Owen, catching the medic’s eye as he fixed him with a meaningful glare. 

“Gwen – do whatever you can to track down that copper. I’d put money on it that he planted the phone in the ambulance. We need to find him before he disappears permanently.”

“You think these people are going to kill him?” Gwen asked, shocked. 

“To be honest, I think he’s already dead.” Jack shrugged. “But we might get lucky.”

“OK, then.” Gwen looked dubious, suspecting that Jack was giving her a pointless task just to get her out of the way. “I’ll get onto that straightaway then.”

“Please.” Jack gave her a grateful smile and as she made to walk back to her work station, he called out to her. “Oh, and why don’t you order in some food for us – it must be lunchtime already.”

Gwen hesitated, knowing that the take-out menus and numbers were over by the small kitchenette area. She was even more certain that Jack wanted her out of the way and that made her even more determined to find out what was going on.

“Shall I take that?” Tosh pointed at the offending mobile phone that Jack was still clutching tightly. “See if there’s anything I can find out about where the message was sent from?”

“Not yet, Tosh.” Jack spoke quietly, his eyes going from Ianto to Owen and back again.

“What is it?” Ianto asked equally softly, picking up on the worry emanating from Jack.

“While we’ve been talking, you got another message. Same sender.” 

Jack had switched the mobile onto silent mode having noted earlier that the message from Ianto’s mother had been sent within an hour of them entering the Hub. Someone had been watching them.

“Let me see,” demanded Ianto, sitting up quickly.

“I don’t think-”

“Don’t you dare tell me I can’t see it! You know damn well how this affects me.” 

An undercurrent of something unsaid passed between the two men, but the looks they exchanged did not go unnoticed by either Tosh or Owen.

“What the fuck’s going on, Jack?” Owen hissed, looking across the Hub to check that Gwen was out of earshot.

“Ianto?” Tosh perched on the coffee table in front of Ianto and placed a hand firmly on his knee. “What’s wrong?”

“Give me the phone,” asked Ianto once more. He took hold of Tosh’s hand and squeezed it gently hoping she’d pick up on his request for patience. 

Jack reluctantly passed the phone back to Ianto.

The message was unambiguous:

_I know you’re at work. If you’re too busy to meet up, I’ll just have to visit your sister and that dear little girl of hers. Call me back and let me know your decision._

Shortly after he read through the message another one came in – a picture – taken of his sister’s house on the Cromwell Estate. Then another, showing his sister unpacking grocery bags from the back of her car and finally a zoomed in image of his niece, sitting on the wall outside their house dipping her hand into a bag of sweets.

“Shit.” 

“Ianto?” Jack could tell by the pained expression on the younger man’s face that it was bad. “Show me.” 

Scrolling through the texts, Jack fumed, he had rarely seen such a blatant and unsubtle threat. 

“I’ll have to go along with it – I haven’t got any choice.” Ianto said grimly.

“I’ve had enough of this – what the hell’s going on?” Owen growled, snatching the phone from Jack before he had the chance to resist.

Tosh stood up quickly and moved in between the two men, giving Owen a chance to see what had upset Ianto so much. 

“What is it, Owen?”

“Dunno for certain, but an educated guess would be that whoever did a number on Ianto is blackmailing him and threatening his sister and her kids. That’s your sister isn’t it, Ianto?”

“Yes,” admitted Ianto. He then turned to glare at Jack. “You promised me you’d keep them safe.” 

“I hoped I could, but she’s moved faster than I -”

“She?” interrupted Tosh.

“Who the fuck is ‘she’?” Owen shouted at the same time.

“Long story – one we don’t have time for right now,” snapped Jack.

“I can’t ignore it, Jack. I’ve got to call her back.” Ianto was reaching out to take his phone only to have Jack grasp hold of his wrist, stopping him. 

“Wait – we don’t know what the hell she wants. You’re not ready for this.” 

What Jack really meant was that he wasn’t ready to send Ianto back into danger so soon.

“I don’t give a shit about that. I can’t let her hurt them. You know what she’s capable of -”

“Ianto, I’m ordering you –”

“You can’t order me to let my family suffer. And if you did, I’d have to disobey you…sir.” 

“Jack- what’s going on?” Gwen called out as she ran across from her work station to join the rest of the team. “Has something happened? I heard shouting.”

“Nothing’s happened.” Jack asserted.

“Bollocks it hasn’t – you’re red in the face and look like you’ve been chewing wasps and he looks like he’s about to punch you.” 

Gwen pointed to Ianto’s clenched fist. She then took a good look at both Owen and Tosh who were standing between the two men as if refereeing a fight. 

“What’s going on, Tosh? Come on, someone tell me.”

“I haven’t got a clue, Gwen.” Tosh said, not moving from where she was standing at Ianto’s side. “But you’re right about one thing – there’s more to this than meets the eye and these two are keeping us in the dark.”

“Owen?” Gwen looked to Owen, to see if he was in agreement with Tosh’s analysis of the situation. 

“Yeah, that about sums it up. Come on the pair of you – out with it now, before it ends up getting someone killed.”

“Shut up! All of you.” Ianto yelled. “Stop arguing. Please. What I can tell you is that the person who took me and … well, they’ve threatened to hurt my sister and niece if I don’t do what they want.”

“Bloody hell, Ianto – why didn’t you say anything, love?”

“What don’t you understand by the concept of being threatened, Gwen?” Owen rolled his eyes with barely concealed contempt. “What is it they want you to do, Ianto?” 

“I don’t know for certain. I guess that’s what this is all about.”

“They’re watching you,” said Jack, quietly.

“I know – they waited until I was here before getting in touch. Sure you don’t want to use the mind probe?”

“Positive.”

“Mind probe?” demanded Tosh, giving Jack a look that could kill. 

“Told him it wasn’t happening, don’t worry, Tosh. No need to kill me yet.”

“Let me trace the call, that way we’ll have an idea of where this person is,” suggested Tosh reasonably.

“I don’t know, Tosh – if she knows that you’re tracking the call, it might be dangerous for Rhi and Mica.” Ianto sighed.

“Tosh, can you do it without it being detected?” Jack asked and as soon as Tosh nodded her head, he gave a tight lipped smile. “Get ready then. Ianto – you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m certain. There’s nothing else I can do.”

“Jack – is this going to put him in danger again?” Gwen held her hand out, preventing Ianto from pushing himself up from the sofa. 

“That doesn’t matter,” Ianto spoke up, placing his hand on Gwen’s shoulder as he stood up. 

“Like hell it does!” Gwen exclaimed. “Jack Harkness – he’s hardly had time to recover from being kidnapped and tortured, and you’re sending him back in the field. What the hell do you think you’re playing at?”

“It’s not his decision,” insisted Ianto. “It’s mine this time and I know what I’m doing.”

“There’s got to be another way,” protested Gwen. “Why don’t you let us get your family to safety and then-”

“No, Gwen.” Ianto interrupted. “Whilst these people are out there, my family will never be safe. You’ve got to let me do this.”

“You sure about this mate?” asked Owen. “You’re not just suffering a bit of martyrdom complex from sharing a bed with Harkness are you?”

“No. Although I’m confident if I caught anything from sharing a bed with Jack, you’d have the antibiotics to cure it.” Ianto accepted Jack’s arm as he helped him sit down again. “It’s got to be me.” 

“I’m ready!” Tosh called out from her computer. “System is set to track outgoing and incoming signals.”

“Here goes then.” Ianto pressed his lips tightly together and selected the option to call back the sender of the message he’d received. “Hello? Yes, I got the message. What do I have to do?”

After a while of anxious listening to a one-sided conversation the others watched as Ianto put down his phone and fell back into the heap of cushions on the sofa.

“Did you manage to trace it, Tosh?” asked Jack, already knowing the answer by the defeated look on Tosh’s face.

“No. Nothing.”


	15. Chapter 15

“What does she want you to do, Ianto?” asked Jack.

Ianto leaned forward, head in his hands. 

“You’re not going to like it.”

Jack crouched on the floor between Ianto’s knees and took hold of his hands. 

“Tell me.”

“She wants proof that I’ll do as she asks.” 

“Who the hell is this woman?” Gwen demanded. “Well? Doesn’t anyone else want to be let in on the secret? Oh my god, Jack – she’s not one of your exes is she?”

“What makes you think that anyone who attacks Torchwood has to be someone I’ve been in a relationship with?” Jack sprung to his feet to yell at Gwen in his own defence.

“Captain John Hart ring any bells?” Owen pointed out. 

“That’s one just one, dammit and he’s not a captain!”

“Then who is she?” Tosh asked. “You know who held Ianto, who hurt him. Don’t you?” 

“You don’t know what you’re asking.” Jack scowled as Tosh, Owen and Gwen all closed in on him, accusation writ large in their eyes.

“If you know who it was that blew the upstairs entrance to pieces and kidnapped him-” Owen jabbed a finger in Ianto’s direction, “and put him through the physical wringer, then I think you owe it to him and to us, to say who the fuck it is.”

“Jack?” Gwen’s eyes grew wider as she contemplated the truth. She recalled the day she’d been the other side of the wall as the impact of the detonations hit, tears springing to her eyes as she believed that Ianto had been killed.

“Ianto?” Jack sat down on the sofa next to Ianto. “They’re right – we have to tell them. They were just as worried about you as I was. We stand a better chance of dealing with her if we’re working together as a team.”

“Go on then.” Ianto knew that too much had been revealed, that there was no going back. “But if anything happens to Rhi or the kids I’ll never forgive you … any of you.”

Jack sat next to Ianto and gently wrapped an arm around his shoulders to pull him in close. He then told the team about a Blowfish matriarch who had apparently ruled a crime ring in Cardiff for as long as he’d been in the city himself. He explained how she had disappeared off the radar for a long while and that he’d assumed she was dead. That was until she’d decided to abduct and torture Ianto. 

“Fuck. I thought they were all drug-crazed wankers with a penchant for sharp suits,” exclaimed Owen. “The only ones we’ve come across seemed to be involved in car theft and petty crime.”

“At gunpoint,” observed Gwen.

“Those would be the younger individuals – had to hunt down plenty of those in my time. The older Blowfish are into more adult ventures, especially the females.” 

Jack shook his head woefully, realising that he’d never given the team any reason to believe otherwise. He was beginning to regret not trusting them more with the facts – they were right, he did keep too much to himself. 

“What has she asked you to do, pet?” Gwen asked awkwardly.

“She wants me to steal something from the here and take it to a rendezvous point. I have to hand it over to a representative of her gang.”

“What does she want?” Jack asked again.

Ianto took a deep breath and then turned to fix his gaze on Jack.

“The coral from the desk in your office. She said it’s unique.” 

“Damn.” 

Jack slammed his fist onto the arm of the sofa. He couldn’t imagine what the Blowfish would want with that, but the fact that they knew of its existence troubled him greatly. A sidelong glance at Ianto caught the look of fear in the younger man’s eyes. He was convinced Jack would not let him take it and that Volitana would use that as an excuse to hurt his sister or niece.

“Of course not – I understand.” Ianto sighed softly, wondering how he could protect his family. 

“Couldn’t we make a copy of it – a holographic clone, using 3-D printing tech?” Tosh suggested.

“Do we have time for that?” Jack frowned. It was a possibility, but it took several hours to complete the process to produce a solid replica of an object. “When and where’s this rendezvous meant to be, Ianto?”

“Midnight. Taff’s Mead Embankment, by the waterbus stop. I’ll have to get a taxi, can’t drive with this.” Ianto held out his bandaged hand. 

“I’ll take you,” insisted Jack.

“No – I’ve got to go alone.” Ianto rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. “They’re watching us– they’ll know if I’ve got anyone with me.”

“I’ll get a security detail to guard your family.” 

“Not good enough, Jack.” Ianto shook his head. “She’s already found them – it’s too late. I’ve got to do this by myself.”

“No fucking way.” Owen shook his head. “That’s a dodgy area at the best of time. There’s no way you’ll be able to look out for yourself. You can barely walk on that ankle, let alone run.”

“He’s right, Ianto – it’s not safe,” growled Jack.

“What if someone could be there, keeping an eye on him, but not obviously?”

“What are you thinking, Tosh?”

“Bear with me. Owen’s got a point about the sort of people that hang out on the embankment at that time of night … but I think I could come up with something that would fit in. It would also give you guys an excuse to drive past slowly to keep an eye on things.” 

Tosh let a sly smile tweak her lips as she knew exactly what outfit she could wear to blend in with the other nocturnal workers in that part of the city.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Now just hang on a minute-”

“Of all the fucking stupid ideas, Tosh-”

“Get over yourself, Owen! You’re the one who keeps on about my killer heels-”

“No way, Ianto, I’m not letting you-”

“It’s not your-”

“That’s not the fucking point!”

“Jack – you can’t let them do this-”

“Shut up, Gwen!”

“You’re in no fit state-”

“SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!” 

Ianto grabbed hold of the crutch that was on the floor next to the sofa and swept everything off the coffee table – including a few discarded dirty coffee mugs – sending them crashing to the floor. 

Everyone stopped where they were, a frozen tableau of frustration and anger – Tosh standing feet apart, hands on hips, Owen leaning over her, a finger pointing at her chest. Meanwhile Jack and Gwen were facing each other off angrily, fists clenched, the fire in their eyes still glinting even as their heads snapped around in shock to stare at Ianto.

Despite not wearing one of his sharp suits that screamed authority, the stern look on Ianto’s face commanded attention. Apart from the scattered magazines, papers and empty food wrappers strewn about the floor at his feet, the only sign that Ianto was struggling to maintain a hold on his temper was the slight tremble in his hand as he gripped hold of the crutch. 

Waiting for his heart to stop racing and his breathing to slow down, Ianto slowly regarded each of his team mates, finishing with Jack. The range of emotions he saw in their eyes ranged from pity to remorse, but it occurred to him, like a punch in the guts, that he no longer had the patience to listen to their opinions or feelings. 

“Either stop this now, or I swear I’ll do this by myself.” Ianto’s voice was quiet and low, signs that he was barely keeping his fury under control. “My sister is planning a birthday party for my niece. She’s going to be five next week. And I don’t give a shit who thinks what, I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep them safe. If that means I have to break every rule in the book, so be it – I’ll take whatever punishment or penalty is due when this is all over, that’s if I’m still in one piece.”

“It’s not going to come to that.” Jack impatiently moved Gwen out of his way and sat back down on the sofa next to Ianto. “You don’t have to deal with this on your own.”

“He’s right, Ianto – I may not agree with half of what Jack says, but there’s no way we’re letting you deal with this alone.” Gwen looked abashed and sat on the coffee table across from Ianto.

“Don’t you get it, Gwen? This isn’t something for you and Jack to fight over.” Ianto shook his head slowly. Although he was speaking to Gwen, he reached out to take hold of Jack’s hand, wanting him to know that what he had to say was addressed to him as well. “Not to mention I’m sick of dealing with the fallout from the power struggle between the pair of you.”

Jack had the good grace to look deeply ashamed as he took Ianto’s words to heart. He’d sworn to himself that he wasn’t going to let Gwen get to him like that any more and yet he was already falling back into his old ways. He slid an arm around Ianto’s waist and leant close enough to press a quick kiss to his brow. An apology.

“What’s so special about that lump of coral?” Owen asked, filling the awkward silence with a question that would hopefully bring them back on task. Meanwhile, he knew exactly what Ianto was getting at and was glad to see Jack squirming with guilt. 

“What are you on about, Owen?” Gwen spun around to spear the medic with a scowl, she sounded more than a little irritated. She’d been trying to analyse the looks being exchanged between Jack and Ianto who were sat in front of her on the sofa. 

“Well, come on, it’s not just a paperweight is it?” Owen pressed the point.

“For that matter, how does she know it’s here in the first place?” Tosh added, looking towards Ianto with a regretful look in her eyes.

“Ianto?” Jack turned in his seat to look Ianto in the eye. He’d not pushed him to describe the details of his ordeal, but there was a high probability that he would have been forced to reveal classified information. 

“I’m sure I didn’t say anything that specific. But then again …” Ianto shrugged. He genuinely didn’t recall being asked anything about what was in the Hub, although that was no guarantee that he hadn’t divulged secrets in those moments before unconsciousness had claimed him.

“Jack – you said this female’s a Blowfish, right?” Gwen asked, adopting her patient policewoman technique of reiterating the established facts, as if they’d all lost track of the previous conversation. She ignored the scornful snort from Owen and concentrated her attention on Jack.

“I thought we’d got past that, Gwen. What are you getting at?”

“I’d never seen one before that night you came back.” Gwen was frowning now as something teased at the back of her mind. Hoping for help jogging her memory she looked to the others. “Do you remember that? Ianto? Owen? Tosh?”


	16. Chapter 16

Ianto looked down at his feet, as Jack’s words from that fateful day came back to haunt him, and not for the first time. _‘For you. All of you …’_ resounded in Ianto’s head, followed by what he’d overheard Jack saying to Gwen, when he’d gone to find the pair of them: _‘What kept me fighting was the thought of coming home to you…’_ Neither of them knew he’d accidentally witnessed that moment, but it was something that his insecurity refused to let go of, no matter what happened between him and Jack.

He was pulled back from his memories as he heard Owen cursing.

“Fucking trigger-happy wanker shot at me, the bastard -”

“So did Ianto, didn’t he?” sniped Gwen.

“Lucky for me they were both crap shots.”

“Like I said at the time, I wasn’t trying to kill you.” Ianto rolled his eyes automatically as it seemed that Owen was ready to reopen an old argument.

“Never mind that.” Gwen held her hand up to Owen, signalling for him to drop his litany of complaints about being everyone’s favourite target. She stared at Ianto and began to repeat her question. “The night Jack returned-”

“Yes, of course I remember,” snapped Ianto, as he felt Jack nudge him gently.

Yet again, Gwen detected an undercurrent of something between the two men, but she decided she’d follow that up at another time.

“That blowfish– when he broke into that house and was holding the girl hostage. He was threatening to shoot her and started taunting us, remember? He seemed to know all about us and he knew that Jack had been missing. What was it he said?”

“Yeah, cheeky bastard, said something about me having my hands full of blood-”

“That’s right – and he made a comment about me being all heart-” Gwen began, a hint of smugness in her voice.

“The carer with her ‘oh so beating heart,’ to quote a dead fish.” Ianto recalled with accuracy. He kept his eyes shut, hoping Gwen wouldn’t pick up on the fact that, despite the horror of that situation, he’d found himself sympathetic to a sarcastic sentiment being voiced by an alien, hell bent on destruction.

“He called me a technician with cold devices,” recalled Tosh sounding affronted.

“Ianto – what was it he said about you again?” Owen asked as he discreetly reached out to give Tosh a reassuring pat on the arm. “Wasn’t tea boy, but something along those lines.”

“He called me the office boy, said I’d been ‘promoted beyond measure’,” replied Ianto, deciding not to remind Owen that he’d also been referred to as Jack’s minion.

“But he also knew that we were without Jack!” asserted Gwen. “He called us teacher’s pets and said we were lost because our master had left us on our own.”

“How the hell did he know that?” wondered Owen. “And why the fuck didn’t we question him about it?” 

“That would be because Jack blew his brains out all over the curtains.” Ianto pointed out, recalling the shock as he’d spun around to find himself looking down the barrel of Jack’s Webley. “Just as well I didn’t move my head.”

Jack flinched as he relived his moment of bravado – looking back on it, his actions had been a bit reckless. He’d been showing off and could easily have shot Ianto if he’d made any unexpected moves.

“We’d kept it quiet about you being gone. No one knew.” Gwen explained, convinced that she’d managed to lead Torchwood in Jack’s absence in such a way that his absence wouldn’t have been noticed.

“That’s what she called me. Office boy,” murmured Ianto.

“You’re more than that, you do know that don’t you?” whispered Jack quietly, picking up on Ianto’s comments.

“That fish – he was high on drugs. Later on we found Jack’s mate from the mysterious Time Agency, talking to his dead body, ticking him off for nicking a car whilst going through his pockets. Am I the only one spotting a pattern here or what?”

“Oh my god, it’s got to be Hart! He’s been in your office.” Pieces of a puzzle Gwen hadn’t even realised she’d been trying to solve, came into place triggered by the memory of a group of objects assembling themselves into a pyramid. “He even put that bloody device on your desk, Jack. He’d have seen the coral then.” 

“Damn.” Jack had been trying very hard to convince himself that John Hart had absolutely nothing to do with what had happened, but the case for his defence was looking flimsier by the hour.

“Just what was he doing hanging out with low life scum like that blowfish in the first place?” Owen asked the question they all wanted to know the answer to.

“Blowfish have always scavenged Cardiff for anything that falls through the rift.” Jack explained. “I guess he must have gone to them for help looking for those canisters first. After all I wasn’t around.”

“What is it you always hammer home to us about coincidences?” Ianto reminded Jack.

“Damn – that was quite a coincidence I guess, him turning up in Cardiff on exactly the same day I return after being off planet for a … three months.” Jack quickly corrected himself from saying he had been away for a whole year. After all, it had only been three months’ absence as far as his team was concerned. 

“Perhaps your return had something to do with the rift spitting out those canisters?” speculated Tosh. “Then Hart followed shortly after – that could explain the timing.”

Tosh brought up the activity logs for the day on which Jack had returned. 

“The surges in rift energy were recorded several hours before the incident in the car park that we found out was related to Hart. We were out all day dealing with weevils and the rift energy peaks would have been too small to show up on the remote detector.”

Jack nodded his head thoughtfully. He’d found the Hub deserted when he’d been dropped off by the Doctor, much to his disappointment. The confluence of events surrounding that window in time troubled him – he’d come back to Cardiff on exactly the same day that a handful of canisters had randomly fallen through the rift, hotly pursued by his psychotic ex-partner. Ianto was right, there was nothing coincidental about that timing. He wondered if maybe the TARDIS had returned him then to spare his team from certain disaster had they tried to deal with John on their own. 

“Maybe Hart tried to cut the same deal with the blowfish – offered them a share of what he thought was a massive diamond?” suggested Gwen. 

“Sounds plausible,” mused Jack, still distracted by the doubts niggling away in his head. “He knew nothing about Torchwood when I met up with him in the bar – he was amused that I had a team. I reckon he only sent the message to my wrist strap when his picked up on my proximity.” 

Jack didn’t want to consider the option that he’d been waiting for him to turn up. As he thought through the problem, he began to fiddle with the clasp on his wrist strap, recalling how the Doctor had disabled it as they stood by the railings overlooking the Plass. For that short time when it had been operational it would have pinged any nearby personal vortex manipulators, although the Doctor’s handiwork had rendered his unable to reciprocate. 

“Is it possible that after we sent him packing, John went back to the blowfish and told them about Torchwood?” Tosh asked. “Out of spite?”

“I got the impression they already knew a lot about us. They’ve been studying Torchwood for a while. Otherwise that Blowfish wouldn’t have been able to bait us in the first place.” Ianto pointed out, recalling how Volitana had also taunted him while inflicting pain. “However, I wouldn’t put it past Hart feeding them more info.”

“Me neither.” Owen chipped in.

“Why would he do that?” Gwen asked, directing her question at Jack. 

“Like Tosh said - spite, vengeance. I’d rejected him. Made it clear that I wasn’t the man I used to be. Told him he wasn’t wanted.” Jack shrugged. He also figured that it would have really got under the skin of his old partner that he owed his life to a group of people he’d previously belittled. “If he felt he could stir things up a bit for us, he would have done. Either that, or he traded details on our base for drugs.”

“Oh, this is classic. It is all down to your fucking ex after all!” Owen shook his head. If things hadn’t got so nasty, he might have been tempted to crow about it, but after what had happened to Ianto he was less inclined to gloat.

“I still don’t believe he’s behind this –” Jack bristled with annoyance. He wasn’t sure who he was really angry with, but a quick glance at Ianto, still bearing the marks from his capture, forced him to bite his tongue. “But I guess it could have been him that sold us out.”

“Didn’t strike me as a criminal mastermind.” Tosh added quietly, with a sidelong look to where Jack’s hand now rested on Ianto’s thigh. “Jealous ex, yes.”

“Not helpful, Tosh.” Ianto gently rebuked his colleague.

“Back to the coral – what is it? Why would they want it?” Gwen asked. She often wondered, especially when she’d caught Jack whispering to it as if encouraging it to grow.

“Gallifreyan.” Jack smiled to himself. “It’s the substance of time machines.”

Under the right conditions Jack knew that his piece of Gallifreyan sentient coral could grow into a TARDIS. Whether that would take his earlier estimate of fifty years, or closer to the thousand years traditionally required, Jack figured he’d have plenty of time to wait.

“Stop bullshitting-”

“It is, Owen – trust me.”

“What are you doing with it then?” demanded Owen.

“It fell through the rift,” said Jack as if that was sufficient explanation. It wasn’t quite that simple, but it was all his team needed to know.

“That explains how you got it. But why are you nurturing it?” Tosh pursued the issue tenaciously, picking up on Jack’s curt response and suspecting that he was hiding something. “What’s it doing on your desk?”

“Looking pretty?” Jack’s grin faded fast as he felt the eyes of his team on him demanding an honest explanation, hoping for the truth. Now that he’d managed to reconnect with the Doctor, it didn’t seem to matter too much if he told them one of his reasons. “OK - I was hoping that it might have got the attention of a certain Time Lord if it ever grew big enough”

“Oh”. Ianto’s voice betrayed his feelings of disappointment and dejection. “If you’ll excuse me, I need some fresh air.” 

Ianto felt that he should have known. It explained why Jack didn’t want to part with it. If the choice was either his family or Jack’s association with the Doctor, he knew he was on his own. Grabbing hold of the crutch that was still on the coffee table, Ianto got up and hobbled past his teammates, politely refusing offers of assistance. He had got as far as the door to the underground garage before Jack caught up with him. He had no idea where he was heading, he just wanted to be alone. 

“Ianto?” 

“It’s alright, I understand.” 

Ianto kept his head down and didn’t turn around, but Jack was insistent and took hold of him by the arms and held him still.

“Let me come with you, give you a hand with the stairs-” Jack implored, moving around Ianto and tilting his chin up in an effort to gauge what was going through his mind. 

“I’d rather you didn’t. I just need some space right now, ok?”

Ianto focused on the top of Jack’s right ear, not feeling able to meet his gaze for fear of losing the fragile hold he had on self control. He wasn’t going to beg Jack. No, if he wasn’t willing to give Ianto what he needed, he’d just have to steal it and face the consequences. 

“You can have it.” Jack said with conviction. He could tell by the stunned look on Ianto’s face that he’d hit the nail on the head. “If Tosh can’t make a replica in time, it’s yours.”

“But-”

“Did you really think I wouldn’t let you take it?” Jack sounded incredulous, but as he eventually made eye contact with Ianto he realised that it had been exactly what had been going through the younger man’s head. “Oh, Ianto, you idiot.”

Not able to vocalise a reply, Ianto just dropped the crutch, letting it clatter to the ground, as he found himself pulled into a bone crushing hug. He didn’t care that it made his bruised flesh hurt, because of the relief it brought to his spirit.


	17. Chapter 17

Jack could feel Ianto struggling not to sag in his arms and, recognising the onslaught of exhaustion, carefully steered him towards a carefully concealed door at the back of the underground garage. It was well hidden behind a rack of cleaning implements that no-one ever used, apart from Ianto of course.

As Jack let the door close silently behind him, he remembered the first time he’d been shown this room after returning from his sojourn with the Doctor. Ianto had managed to get it set up without any of the others being any the wiser, which hadn’t come as any surprise to Jack, after all this was the man who’d managed to install an entire Cyber-conversion unit under their noses without raising any alarms. Ianto had explained that, in Jack’s absence, he’d sometimes have to wait a few days before he could get out to Flat Holm Island and that it was necessary to have emergency accommodation ready to house any tortured soul thrown back out of the Rift. Situated in the garage was perfect as it could be accessed without alerting Gwen, or the others, to its existence.

The walls of the room were lined with foam insulation that sound-proofed the room and provided cushioning to protect their guests from harming themselves. It was softly lit and decorated in pastel shades, designed to have a calming effect. The furniture consisted of a thick mattress on the floor and an armchair. To one side a simple shower room, with toilet and washbasin, was accessed via a sliding screen. Jack wondered, not for the first time, how he’d managed without Ianto in the past, and how he’d cope without him in the future.

“Sit down before you fall over.” Jack instructed Ianto, not waiting for him to insist he was fine. 

“Not the best line you’ve ever tried on me,” quipped Ianto, attempting levity. However, he didn’t put up any resistance as Jack helped him to sit down on the armchair.

“Yeah, well until I can trust you not to pass out on me, I’m not trying anything on with you.” 

Jack felt more than a little guilty for the state Ianto was in – he’d handled the situation abysmally. It struck him that he should have been the one to call a halt to the petty squabbling before Ianto was driven to breaking point. He’d failed him as both a leader and as a friend.

“I’ll be alright-”

“No, you won’t,” Jack interrupted impatiently. “Why don’t you stay here and have a lie down while I sort out a plan of action?” 

“No, I need to be involved-” Ianto started to protest, anxious that Jack was about to take the whole matter out of his hands. “I have to do this -” 

“I know you do and I’m not stopping you, but you’re no use to anyone if you’re on the verge of collapse.”

“I’ll be fine.” Ianto attempted to shrug and winced as the injury on his shoulder reminded him of its presence. 

“I’d be more convinced if you actually took a couple of those painkillers you’ve got in your pocket and put your head down for an hour or two.”

“But-”

“Don’t force me to make this an order, Ianto. Please. It’ll be quiet in here. No one’s gonna bother you. After all it’s not as if you can manage the ladder to get into my room, is it?”

“S’pose not.” 

Ianto shook his head and bit his lower lip nervously as he accepted the fact that he desperately needed some peace and quiet for a while. He’d been unable to hide his feelings or control his emotions in front of the rest of the team and he could tell that Jack was worried about him. The events of the past week were catching up with him, he was in pain and afraid for his family, and he couldn’t foresee an outcome that wasn’t tinged with tragedy. 

Jack rummaged around in a cardboard box of essential supplies and extracted a bottle of water. He twisted the cap off and passed it to Ianto.

“Exactly – now take your painkillers like a good boy. I know you’re in pain again, so don’t bother denying it.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows, silently daring Ianto to pretend otherwise. The fact that he got away with referring to Ianto as a ‘boy’ without incurring a deathly glare or physical damage only served to confirm his suspicions that Ianto was in more pain that he was prepared to admit.

“It’s just a twinge, but I guess it’s about time for another dose.” 

Ianto took the bottle from Jack and then reached into the pocket of his jeans to pull out the strip of tablets that Owen had given him that morning, pushed two out of the blister pack and swallowed them with a gulp of water. 

“Now I want you to lie down and rest.” Jack pointed at the mattress.

“I suppose it might be a good idea …” Ianto tried to push himself out of the chair, but his ankle was throbbing and it was awkward getting up without putting any weight on it, especially as he’d dropped his crutch when Jack had caught up with him. “Um … I don’t suppose you could give me a hand?” 

“Sure.” Jack suppressed a smile and helped manoeuvre Ianto out of the chair and onto the mattress. 

Sparing Ianto the embarrassment of having to ask, Jack automatically went to work on his trainers, loosening the laces as much as he could before carefully easing them off Ianto’s feet. He could see for himself that the damaged ankle was swelling up again, which was hardly surprising considering that Owen had instructed him to make sure it was raised up as much as possible. Without another word being exchanged, Jack gently covered Ianto with a soft blanket and kissed his forehead. Despite being relieved that Ianto was prepared to take his advice, it also gave him cause for concern. He couldn’t help but think that Ianto must have been feeling bad if he was ready to give in without more of a fight.

Despite a strong desire to slip under the bedcovers and curl up with Ianto, Jack knew there was work to be done. So, with a sigh, he stood up and forced himself to turn his back on Ianto and make his way purposefully to the door.

“Jack?” 

“What?” Jack stopped at the threshold of the room and looked back over his shoulder.

“Don’t let me sleep too long. Please.” 

“I won’t.”

“Promise?”

“I promise.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where is he then?” Owen looked up as he heard the sound of Jack’s heavy footsteps approaching. He tilted his head to one side as if checking to see if Ianto was following in Jack’s wake.

“He’s taking a break,” snarled Jack, rolling up his sleeves belligerently, looking for all intents and purposes as if he was squaring up for a fight.

“I hope you’ve not let him out of the Hub on his own?” Owen walked towards Jack.

“Do I look that stupid, Owen?”

“You seriously want an answer to that?”

“For fuck’s sake, Owen, drop it.” Gwen approached the two men and tugged at Owen’s sleeve, pulling him back. “Jack, we’ve come up with a few ideas. Tell him, Tosh.”

Tosh picked up on Gwen’s cue to step in quickly to defuse the volatile atmosphere.

“Well, I’ve located the replicator device. I just need to scan the coral and feed in its parameters-”

“Good work, Tosh. I want you to make that a priority.” 

Jack was grim faced as treacherous thoughts pestered him. Although he’d told Ianto that he’d let him take the original, the more he thought about it, the less happy he was with letting a piece of Gallifreyan coral fall into the hands of the blowfish criminal class. The ruthless part of his mind was seriously considering the option of giving Ianto the replica but allowing him to believe it was the genuine article, just to ensure his behaviour seemed more credible to whoever was watching him. 

“Of course, I’ll get onto that straight away… it’s alright if I-?” Tosh pointed in the direction of Jack’s office.

“Be my guest. Just treat it with care.” 

Tosh nodded quickly and hurried off. There was a reason why she favoured technology to dealing with people. It wasn’t that she was cold like that blowfish had claimed, on the contrary, she was far too sensitive and hated confrontations, especially between people she cared for.

Gwen observed Jack’s eyes as he followed Tosh’s progress towards his office and frowned as she picked up on the tension rolling off him in waves.

“What’s going on, Jack?”

“I wish I knew.” Jack said quietly to himself, before turning to Gwen and flashing her one of his grins that were all wattage and no substance. “So what’s all this about ideas? Trying to show me how to be boss again?”

“Cut it out, Harkness.” Owen griped. “You were making a crap job of it. Funny how you go to pieces as soon as any job involves anyone you know-”

“Not now, Owen.” Gwen warned the doctor as she put herself between the two men who were once more bristling at one another. “Right, Jack – sit yourself down and listen and don’t you dare interrupt until I’ve finished what I’ve got to say.”

“I suggest you listen to her, Jack. It’s fucking crazy if you ask me, but it might just work.”


	18. Chapter 18

On leaving the room earlier, Jack had dimmed the lights in the hope that Ianto would fall asleep. Therefore, he was relieved to hear the muffled sounds of snoring as he stepped into the darkened room. Wearily rubbing his face, Jack lowered himself into the armchair and leaned forward. All that was visible of Ianto was the top of his head, a few stray curls of hair caught up in the weave of the blanket. It occurred to Jack, not for the first time, that he should never have got so attached, but it was too late to turn back the clock. Far too late. 

In the space of one week, Jack had come so very close to losing Ianto. More than once. Initially through his own selfish behaviour, allowing his anger at Gwen to break through as he took advantage of their arrangement; then thinking Ianto had been blown to pieces only to have to deal with the fact that he’d been kidnapped and put through hell. The thought of letting Ianto put himself back into danger before he’d even had chance to recover properly had made Jack feel physically sick. The fact that Ianto had curled up under a blanket and fallen asleep so readily showed just how exhausted he was. The only thing that seemed to have kept Ianto going was the determination to make sure the Blowfish didn’t follow through on her threats to his family. However, it seemed as if his rest was coming to an end as Jack picked up on movements beneath the blanket as Ianto turned over onto his back.

“Well?” a sleepy voice murmured from under the thick covers.

“Well what?” Jack sighed.

“What’s happening?”

“I was planning on sitting here watching you sleep,” grumbled Jack. 

“I meant what’s up with the others – what’s the plan?” 

“Ah – that.” Jack sat forward and took a deep breath. “OK – seeing as you’re determined to go through with this meeting, the team have come up with some ideas.”

“Should I be worried?” Ianto yawned and pushed himself up onto the pillows so he could look Jack in the eye.

“Probably. First off, you’re worried about your family, yes?”

“Whatever gave you that impression?” Ianto asked with barely concealed sarcasm. “Sorry, yes, of course I am.”

“Gwen’s had an idea – quite brilliant I have to admit.” Jack looked put out that someone had thought of an idea before he’d had the chance to put his mind to the problem properly.

“Oh god – please don’t let her anywhere near my sister! Have you any idea of the trouble that could cause?” Ianto envisaged the combined wrath of the two Welshwomen and shuddered. 

“No worries there – Gwen’s going to be teamed up with me.” Jack grinned and then caught the glare that Ianto shot him. “Don’t give me that look!”

“What look?” demanded Ianto, not quite pulling off innocent outrage. 

“That one, the one where your eyes narrow ever so slightly and you clench your teeth. Don’t think I’ve not noticed that before now.” Jack pointed his finger at Ianto and raised one eyebrow daring him to deny it. “Back to your sister – my plan had been to arrange for a gas leak and have the whole damn street evacuated. However, Tosh ruled that out – told me it was over the top and only likely to draw attention.”

“Thank god for Tosh. Seriously, Jack, the gas board are ready to sue us for defamation.” 

“Yeah – well I was told in no uncertain terms that this has to be subtle.” Jack shrugged as if the concept of subtle was not beyond his capabilities. “Anyhow, Gwen’s plan involves her ex-partner in the police and that strapping hulk of a husband of hers.”

“What?” Ianto rubbed his forehead, wondering if he was still asleep and caught up in a bizarre dream.

“Hey, Tosh and Owen seemed to think it stood a good chance of working.”

“Really? You’re not bullshitting me are you?”

“Would I? OK – don’t answer that.”

“Jack – I meant what I said earlier. If anything happens-”

“I know,” interrupted Jack, a grim expression on his face. “And you’d better believe me when I say that I have no intention of seeing anything happen to you either.”

“So, are you going to let me in on this plan or what?”

Jack got up from the well-stuffed armchair and crouched on the floor next to Ianto. He took hold of the edge of the blanket, not taking his eyes off Ianto as he wordlessly asked for permission to get into the bed with him.

“Boots off,” instructed Ianto, as he shuffled over, making more room.

Jack toed his boots off and quickly slid under the blanket and before Ianto knew what had happened, he found himself rolled onto his side with Jack’s arms tightly wrapped around his chest, effectively immobilising him. Jack hooked a leg over the top of Ianto’s hip, pinning him down so he was unable to escape. He could feel Jack’s warm breath on the back of his neck and under any other circumstances would have been feeling more than a little aroused. 

“Trust me?” asked Jack.

“It’s usually at this point you ask for my safe word.”

“Hold that thought.” Jack chuckled and leaned around so he could kiss Ianto’s cheek. “I just need to make sure you don’t make a run for it before you’ve heard me out.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What is Torchwood doing?” Volitana asked one of her minions. Her voice held curiosity and distaste simultaneously.

“Harkness and Cooper have left their base. They are in the vehicle heading north.”

In the darkened room a screen lit up with blue and violet flashes of light. 

“Purpose?”

“Vermin control – the creatures they call weevils. Our informant overheard them as the woman got in the vehicle.”

“It is that time of the week when the parks are busy at night. Such good hunting grounds.” 

Volitana reached out, gripping tightly to the shoulder of the Blowfish monitoring the screen. She flexed her fingers, the soft black leather of her gloves creaking quietly.

“Make sure they’re followed. I don’t trust Harkness. Never have.”

“What about Jones? Can you trust him?”

“He may not have a wife or children, more’s the pity, they do make such delicious hostages. But I’ve ascertained that he feels very strongly for his sister and her offspring – he’ll do exactly as I ask.”

“What about his relationship with Harkness?” 

“If he is stupid enough place his trust in Harkness, even knowing what I am capable of, then he will live long enough to regret it – just.”

“Of course, ma’am.”

“The others – the doctor and the technician. Where are they? Have they returned to their base?”

“The physician returned to Torchwood alone. We’re assuming he is on duty.”

“That also follows the usual pattern. And, last but by no means least, what of my dear Jones? What has he been up to since I issued him with his instructions?”

“He was taken back to the safe house by Harkness, who stayed there until the sun set. Harkness then returned to the base before heading out with Cooper.”

“Interesting – either he doesn’t trust the boy or he can’t get enough of him. I’m beginning to think I should have spent more quality time with him. Maybe next time. What do you think?”

“Depends, ma’am,” sniggered the subordinate. “Would you share him?”

“Depends on what state he’d be in after I’d finished with him.” Volitana paused to consider possible scenarios. “Where is he now?”

“As soon as it was fully dark, Jones set out on foot.”

“And?”

“I’m assuming he made his way back to their base-”

“Assume? You meant you lost him?” 

A sharp slap to the cheek sent the head fin of the male blowfish trembling violently. 

“No! I mean … well … where else would he have gone?”

“Find him. And the answer to your previous question is no – I’ve no intention of sharing him with anyone.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rhiannon Davies reluctantly took the security chain off its latch when the fair-haired man discreetly flashed his ID.

“Where’s your ID then?” she demanded of the tubbier of the two men as they barrelled into her home.

“Will this do?” Rhys held out the bag he’d been clutching to his chest – it was crammed with packs of canned lager and a bottle of white wine.

“What the bloody hell’s going on? Johnny! Get your arse in here now. Is this anything to do with you?”

“Never seen either of them in my life – god’s truth, love. Hang on - is that curry I can smell?”

“That it is – vindaloo, bhuna, korma, passanda and rogon josh. Thought that would cover all tastes. Also rice and naan bread- plain, keema and peshwari, and a dozen poppadoms.” 

The man with curly blonde hair smiled anxiously. He was hoping that Gwen had been right that the way into any Welshman’s house was to go armed with curry and beer. He’d resented the implication at the time, but if the stunned look on the face of the man in front of him was anything to go by, she’d nailed it. 

“Since when did the South Wales police force make house calls with takeaway?” Rhiannon held out an arm keeping Rhys and Andy from getting any further.

“If it’s anything to do with-”

“Shut up, Johnny.” Rhiannon glared at her husband. “Let’s see the warrant then.”

“Haven’t got one,” admitted Andy sheepishly. “I’m not here to search your house or arrest anyone. Look why don’t we go and sit down and I’ll let my colleague here explain everything.”

“You’re not going anywhere until you tell me exactly what’s going on!”

“It’s your brother. Ianto.” Rhys blurted out, ignoring the look that Andy was giving him.

“I know who my brother is, thank you – what the hell has he got to do with this?”

“It’s complicated. You know he works for the government, yes?”

Rhys was beginning to wonder how Gwen had made it all sound so simple earlier on. It also occurred to him that he’d not counted on Ianto’s sister being quite so formidable. He was sorely tempted to press the button on the pager he had in his pocket, even though Gwen had told him that it was only to be used in case of an emergency. But the look that Rhiannon Davies was giving him was the sort that went with threats involving permanent damage to a man’s gonads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few hours later, under a flickering street light, a mini cab pulled up on the kerb. Ianto got out, paid the driver and then opened the back door to get out his crutch and then limped over towards a low wall. The cabbie didn’t hang around, as soon as the back door was slammed shut, he performed a tight u-turn in the narrow road, his tyres squealing in protest, before he floored the accelerator and headed back into town. He was obviously anxious to get out of the seedy area.

Propping the crutch against the wall, Ianto let a scruffy back pack slide from one arm to fall heavily onto the ground between his feet. Leaning back against the wall, he reached into a pocket in his torn jeans to pull out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. The sputtering flame from his lighter was shielded by one hand as he drew in a breath, the deep red glow showing that he’d been successful in lighting his cigarette. His face was obscured by the hood he had pulled up over his head. As he raised his arm to look at his watch, wisps of blue white smoke curled around his hand.

It was ten minutes before midnight.


	19. Chapter 19

The air was cold and damp, and there was a mist rising up from the river. The nearest streetlight wasn’t working, shards of broken glass on the pavement below evidence of recent vandalism. The combination of poor lighting and damp foggy air, gave the location a murkiness that echoed its seedy reputation. Ianto shivered as he raised the half-smoked cigarette to his lips. Then out of the corner of his eye, he saw that he was being approached by what couldn’t be anything other than what used to be known euphemistically as a ‘lady of the night’. Her short skirt left virtually nothing to the imagination, revealing the tops of stockings and the straps from the suspenders holding them up. Keeping his gaze fixed downwards, his head still concealed beneath the hood of his baggy sweatshirt, he couldn’t help but wonder when he caught sight of the shoes – black patent leather, with heels that defied the laws of physics.

“Got one to spare?”

“Sorry, love, I’m not looking for company.”

The woman leaned out and snatched the cigarette from between his fingers before it made it back to his mouth.

“Oi! What d’you think you’re doing?” Ianto looked up, pissed off that the woman wasn’t taking any hints. What he saw almost left him speechless.

Jack had not described to him exactly what Tosh and Owen were going to be doing, only that they’d be working together. He’d taken that to mean that Tosh’s earlier plan had been rejected. But, just inches away from his face was evidence to the contrary. From the false lashes that framed her eyes, to her glossy red lips, she looked nothing like her usual self. She also appeared to be wearing a blouse a few sizes too small, the tops of her breasts spilling out of the cups of her skimpy bra that was displayed for all to see. Ianto forced himself to look back to her face.

As their eyes met, he noted a mischievous twinkle as Tosh moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue before taking a drag from his cigarette.

“Like I said, love, I’m not interested.” Ianto wanted to ask Tosh what the hell she was playing at, but he knew that they were probably being watched. “You can keep that if you want, I’ve got more.”

Tosh just winked slowly and blew him a kiss as she turned slowly on one delicate heel and sauntered away from him, her hips swaying as she did so. She perched on the end of the low wall, under a flickering streetlight.

Ianto was almost too distracted watching Tosh to notice the soft sounds of footsteps approaching him from the direction of the water bus stop on the river bank.

“Don’t turn around and don’t look over your shoulder,” a voice hissed in his ear. “Pick up the bag and walk along the path.”

A sharp object prodded him in the shoulder blade, indicating that he should do as he was told. Stooping to pick up the rucksack and his crutch, Ianto glanced at his watch – it was midnight.

The pathway alongside the river led into a darkened tunnel under the road bridge. Ianto cursed to himself, knowing that it was in a blind spot as far as CCTV cameras were concerned. He suspected that it was one of the places that blowfish drug dealers plied their wares, unseen by the authorities and conveniently placed for local trade.

In the background he could hear a car hooting its horn and pulling up on the kerbside.

“Keep going.” The harsh reprimand made him aware of the fact that he’d stopped and was getting ready to dash back to check that Tosh was alright.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back on the roadside, the red Mercedes convertible sat expectantly. It had seen better days, its panels bearing scars from past skirmishes, a hub cap was missing and there was a rip in the roof canvas. The tinted window rolled down slowly, and an arm appeared, adorned with tattoos and an ostentatious Rolex watch. Fingers, decked with clunky looking gold rings, snapped twice at Tosh, beckoning her to approach the car.

“Where did he go?” whispered Owen, as he snagged an arm possessively around Tosh’s waist pulling her close to the car.

Tosh leaned into the car and cupped Owen’s ear with her hand, letting long, red fingernails scrape along his jaw.

“Under the bridge.” She muttered into his ear. From a distance it appeared as if she was coquettishly negotiating a price with a potential customer.

“Fuck,” swore Owen. They’d counted on any dealings being carried out near to the road so they could intervene if things took a nasty turn. “You’d better get in.”

Tosh slid around to the passenger’s side of the car and got inside.

“Dammit, Owen! I could have gone after them – kept a closer eye on Ianto.”

“Bollocks. You’d’ve blown your cover – hookers don’t go following two blokes that look as if they’re about to carry out some sort of dodgy transaction. They mind their own business and don’t turn down trade.”

“There are times when I hate your bloody logic, Owen.” Tosh pulled the rear-view mirror across as if adjusting her make up. There was no sign of Ianto or the blowfish. “Well? Are you going to kiss me or not? Like you said, I can’t risk blowing my cover?”

“Punters don’t stop with a quick snog, you do know that don’t you?” Owen tugged on a lever that reclined the passenger seat and, for extra security, locked the doors. Leaning over Tosh, he nipped gently at her luscious red lips, slowly undoing the buttons of her blouse until her could slip a hand inside her bra. Despite his reduced sense of touch, he could still feel her nipple harden as he brushed his thumb across it.

“Less talking and more action – honestly, call yourself a pimp?” Tosh then gasped as Owen’s other hand slid up her leg, gently nudging aside the lace of her underwear.

The darkly tinted windows prevented anyone from seeing inside the car, but the steaming up of the passenger window, and the way that side of the car bounced slightly on its suspension, would have left no doubt in the mind of a casual observer, or even a more observant look-out, as to what was going on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It seemed even colder and damper as they made their way under the bridge. It was almost too dark to see where they were walking, the sound of splashing in puddles coming too late to prevent Ianto from getting his feet wet. Despite the fact that he was being led into what could very well be a trap, the thought that bothered him most was that he might have trodden in dog shit. He reconciled himself to that possibility by remembering that he was wearing old trainers that he could throw away and not his best footwear.

“Stop – that’s far enough. Kneel on the floor and keep your head down.”

Ianto wondered what the hell this blowfish had in mind. He could tell from the voice that it was definitely a blowfish and not a random mugger. They all spoke as if the dry air was scratching their vocal cords.

“Now!”

“Give me a minute – it’s not easy with a gammy leg.” Ianto gingerly knelt down on his uninjured leg first, using the crutch for support and then carefully tucked his other leg underneath. He gasped involuntarily as a twinge of pain flared up from his damaged ankle.

“The bag – open it and throw it on the ground to your side.”

It seemed as if the blowfish didn’t trust him, which Ianto found ironic – the lack of trust leading both sides to assume a trap was being laid. Whichever way he looked at the situation, he was still the bait, which wasn’t reassuring, no matter how many times Jack swore he’d not let anything happen to him. He loosened the ties on the bag and opened it up so that the blowfish could see what was inside.

“Now throw the crutch away – out of reach.”

That caught Ianto out, he had been relying on having the crutch to defend himself in a worst-case scenario. A sharp jab between his shoulder blades, prompting him to respond made it clear that the blowfish meant business. He reluctantly threw the crutch into the darkness in front of him, thinking that he might have been able to get hold of it if he needed to.

“Hands behind your back.”

If it wasn’t for the fact that Ianto felt certain that Volitana was going to ask him to do more than just steal one artefact from Jack’s desk, he’d have been more worried than he was. It would be so easy for the blowfish to shoot him here and dump his body in the river Taff, just like the other victims of the blowfish gang. He shuddered, partly due to the chill in the air and partly because he was starting to wonder if his optimism was badly founded. At least the rest of the team would be able to locate his remains easily enough.

Ianto’s macabre thoughts were interrupted as he felt his hands being forced together and a thin cord being wrapped around his wrists, cutting into the skin that was still tender. He winced as the cord was tightened, his shoulders protesting as they were pulled back.

The blowfish picked up the discarded crutch and used it to free the coral from the rucksack. He pushed it away from him as if it was a bomb, ignoring the fact that pieces from its edges were being knocked off on the rough concrete pathway.

“Careful with that!” Ianto shouted out. “She’ll be really pissed off if you get it damaged.”

Despite Jack’s insistence that Ianto take the actual coral from his office, he felt bad at the fact that it was now destined to fall into the wrong hands. If there was any way he could get it back for Jack, he knew that he would. Once Rhi and the kids were safe, he’d do whatever it took to retrieve it.

“Shut up, office boy – after all, she doesn’t mind how damaged you get.” The blowfish grabbed hold of Ianto’s hair and yanked his head back. “In fact, I think the more injured you are the better she’ll enjoy you.”

“What’s that meant to mean?” Ianto asked, trying to buy time, although he didn’t really want to hear the answer to his question. He already had a good idea what Volitana had in mind without having it spelt out to him.

“When she’s finished using you to fetch and carry from Torchwood, she’s got a few more plans for you. And once she’s had her fun with her playthings she lets the rest of us finish them off.” Licking a broad stripe across Ianto’s cheek the blowfish shoved his head down, so that his chin was pressed into his chest. He then circled Ianto until he stood in front of him, then he roughly grabbed hold of his head and pulled it against his crotch. “And trust me, I’m not the only one looking forward to fucking that smart mouth of yours.”

Ianto tried to twist his head free, unpleasantly aware that the blowfish was getting turned on and not trusting it not to do anything about it. He was beginning to feel a lot more vulnerable. With nothing to lose, he headbutted his tormentor in the genitals and was gratified at the squeal of anguish his action provoked.

The blowfish grabbed hold of Ianto’s shoulders and kneed him in the face causing him to scream out in agony. As he fell forward and rolled over onto one side, his eyes stinging with tears of pain, he curled up instinctively, protecting himself from the blows that he was expecting. Predictably, the aggrieved blowfish let loose with a series of vicious kicks that had Ianto groaning out loud.

“Oi, mate – are you alright?” a voice yelled from the end of the tunnel. “What the fuck’s going on?” 

Ianto’s relief at hearing the distinctive London accent was short lived as a sharp blow to the back of the head rendered him unconscious. The last thing he was aware of was the echo of footsteps running both towards him and away from him. That and the smell of dog shit.


	20. Chapter 20

Having made sure that anyone watching the beat-up Mercedes didn’t have cause for suspicion, Owen reluctantly moved his hands back to where Tosh could see them. The fact that she’d quietly threatened to impale Owen’s foot with one of her heels made the decision all the easier. Tosh had then settled back into the seat, flicking her eyes from the wing mirror to the rear-view mirror, keeping an eye on the river side path. Owen reached behind to turn up the volume on the car radio, the aerial outside reconfigured to act as an ultra sensitive microphone, designed to pick up any noises from outside the car. The range was limited, but enough to pick up the screams that emanated from the darkness under the road bridge. 

They didn’t waste any time in unlocking the doors and running towards the sounds they could still hear. They’d already planned to run to Ianto’s aid if he was in trouble, acting as good Samaritans rather than fellow Torchwood teammates.

Owen reached Ianto first. He pulled a torch out of his pocket and shone it in the face of the man on the ground. He cursed as he saw the state Ianto was in and shook his shoulders roughly.

“Oi – mate! You OK? Come on, talk to me.” Owen turned back to where Tosh was approaching warily, clutching her handbag tightly, ready to get out her automatic handgun at a moment’s notice. “He’s had the shit kicked out of him. Whoever attacked him has buggered off.”

“Is he dead?” 

Owen shone his torch at Tosh and was impressed at the figure she cut in silhouette. She appeared to have momentarily stepped out of character and looked ready to pursue Ianto’s attacker and pump him full of lead. Much as Owen would have liked to see her do just that, there was too much at stake to risk by exposing themselves.

“Nah – don’t think so.” Owen was fighting with his instincts to check for breathing, circulation and any obvious trauma. However, it didn’t stop him from taking a penknife to the cord that was cutting into Ianto’s wrists, before clumsily moving him into the recovery position, making sure it didn’t look too professional. “You know him? Customer?”

“No – he wasn’t interested. All I got off him was a cigarette– just before you turned up.” Tosh crouched down next to Ianto and gently touched his head, feeling the stickiness of blood on her fingertips. “He’s bleeding! Shouldn’t we call the police?”

“You’ve gotta be kidding darlin’ – he’s probably a dealer and won’t thank us for calling the cops in.”

“But he’s hurt – what about an ambulance?” Tosh wasn’t going to let it drop – Ianto was injured and just because Owen was unable to treat him for fear of giving away their identity didn’t mean he shouldn’t receive any medical attention.

By this time, Ianto was coming to – he shook his head groggily as he stared up at Owen.

“No police, no hospitals. I’ll be fine…”

“You look like you need to see a doctor, mate,” Owen shone his torch in Ianto’s face, worried by the relative slowness with which his pupils responded. 

“Just help me back to the road and I’ll get a cab home.”

“What happened to you?” Tosh asked, even though she knew, it made sense that she should ask.

“Fell over,” slurred Ianto, as Owen helped him stagger back to his feet.

“What? Your hands were tied behind your back, sunshine. If you’re into kinky shit, I know just the girl for you,” snapped Owen, matching Ianto for sarcasm. 

“Yeah – well you know what it’s like around here.” Ianto wiped the back of his hand across his face and held it out to see smears of blood from where his lip had been cut. “Can’t trust anyone.”

Meanwhile, Tosh had picked up the crutch and handed it over to Ianto.

“Thanks, I don’t s’pose my bag’s still around is it?”

Realising that Ianto needed to know if the blowfish had taken the coral, Owen shone his torch into the undergrowth and along the pathway. He shook his head as he saw nothing but litter and an abandoned supermarket trolley.

“No, sorry mate – looks like the bastard took it.”

“Shit.” Ianto leaned heavily on the crutch. “My wallet was in there – I don’t suppose I could scrounge a cab fare from you?”

“What do I look like, mate? A fucking Samaritan?” 

“Leave it then– I’ll walk.” 

Ianto stubbornly began to limp towards the road. He felt rough, his ankle was throbbing and even though he’d figured out that he wasn’t meant to know who Owen and Tosh were, it was a nuisance that he couldn’t just get Owen to drive him back to the Hub.

“Wait a minute – I’ll call you a cab,” said Tosh, pulling a phone from her handbag. She used speed dial to get in touch with Jack. “Need a cab asap. Pick up on Taffs Mead Embankment, no not for me…” 

Tosh turned to Ianto and gave him a conspiratorial wink as she held the phone away from her ear. 

“What’s your name, gorgeous?”

“Jones.”

“That’s original,” smirked Owen as he leaned against the side of the Mercedes, surreptitiously scanning the locality for signs of surveillance. Even if he couldn’t see anything obvious that didn’t mean they weren’t being watched. 

“Yes, name’s Jones. He’s been mugged. Needs a lift home… no, he’s not going to puke and pass out in one of your cabs.” Tosh could only do so much to put Jack into the picture without having him turn up any minute in the SUV, burning rubber and putting all their hard work to ruin. “OK, I’ll tell him you’ll have a cab pick him up in the next ten minutes. Thanks.”

“Sorted?” asked Owen.

“Sorted,” replied Tosh. 

“Good, I don’t want to ruin my reputation helping out mugged junkies. Talking of which, here’s a fiver, should be enough to get you to the nearest doss house.” Owen gave Ianto a screwed up five-pound note and then reached out to pull Tosh to his side. “Come on darlin’, we’re going home.”

“What? Already?”

“Best keep off the streets tonight, especially if there’s some fuckin’ psycho on the loose.” Owen led Tosh to the passenger door of his car. He glanced across to Ianto who’d sat down on the wall, looking shaky and pale. It went against the grain to leave a teammate injured out in the field. “You gonna be OK, mate?”

“Yeah – I know this guy who reckons he went to medical school.” Ianto attempted to give Owen a smile, but the fact that his split lip was bleeding onto his chin spoiled the effect. “I’ll get him to check me over if I wake up with more than a headache – OK?”

Although they would rather have waited until the cab showed up, both Tosh and Owen knew that it would look suspicious, so they reluctantly drove off. 

“You think he’ll be alright?” Tosh asked as they turned left onto Corporation Road and she was no longer able to see Ianto in the wing mirror.

“He’d better be, or Jack will never forgive us.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jack? What’s happened?” demanded Gwen for the third time. 

After getting the call from Tosh, Jack had told her to call Dragon Taxis and get a cab to go fetch Ianto. He looked angry and his knuckles gleamed white as he gripped hold of the steering wheel.

“I’ll explain on the way back to the Hub. Text Rhys – tell him they need to stay the night.”

“But Jack – Ianto’s sister has already tried to throw them out twice,” protested Gwen. “There’s a limit to how long any group of Welshmen can discuss how they’d make the national rugby team great again – however pissed they are.”

“They’d better not be drunk – they’re meant to be keeping a look out for anyone going after Ianto’s family.”

“Stop deliberately misunderstanding me, Jack – honestly, I don’t understand how Ianto puts up with you, really I don’t.”

“What is that meant to mean?”

“For the self-proclaimed king of innuendo, you can be so bloody literal when the mood takes you. Not only that, you can be a right moody bastard.”

“Excuse me?” exclaimed Jack. “You’re not exactly the most even-tempered person I’ve ever met.”

“I’ll continue this conversation after texting my husband.” Gwen glared at Jack and then concentrated on the wording of her text. 

Gwen made sure to promise Rhys that she’d make it up to him. As an after thought she sent a second text telling him she loved him and then added a string of kisses. It had been a relief that Ianto’s brother-in-law had been gullible enough to fall for the cover story she’d spun from Jack’s initial white lie about Ianto having been robbed on his way to a meeting in London. As Rhiannon was under the impression that her little brother was a civil servant, and Andy was a real police officer, a fabrication concerning Welsh state secrets falling into the wrong hands and an undercover sting operation involving Ianto was only just stretching the realms of believability. A hand-written note from Ianto telling her to trust Rhys and Andy had proved invaluable. As for the beer and curry? It was a Saturday evening and there was rugby on the TV – it was a no-brainer even if Jack hadn’t been totally convinced.

“So – what’s happened to Ianto then?” Gwen asked bluntly as soon as she’d sent her second text.

“I don’t know – all Tosh could say was that he’d been mugged.” Jack shrugged, not willing to share his fears, or his worries. 

“He’s not made of glass you know.” Gwen picked up on what Jack wasn’t saying. “He’s the same height as you and these days he’s probably heavier than you are.”

“Don’t you dare tell him that!” Jack almost squeaked with indignation.

“What?”

“That he weighs more than me – I made a joke about it and he refused to go out for dinner with me for over a week, said it was all my fault for overfeeding him. Thought he was kidding until I went to the freezer to get some ice cream and found it stuffed with Lean Cuisine meals and nothing else.”

Gwen burst out laughing. 

“What’s so damned funny?” Jack demanded.

“I’m sorry … it’s just that I’ve got this vision of you fattening him up.” 

Gwen thought it was sweet really, Jack as the older man taking out his younger boyfriend and treating him to slap-up meals. Of course, she’d never say a thing about those thoughts to either man, it would only encourage Jack and embarrass Ianto. As for what the two of them could get up to with ice cream, she daren’t even start to consider the possibilities. 

“I’m not the one who’s got a husband slaving away in a kitchen cooking me huge plates of pasta every night – and neither’s Ianto for that matter.”

“Jack Harkness! That was borderline bitchy.” Gwen gave Jack a double take, deciding against asking him if that meant he thought of himself as Ianto’s husband. 

“You asked for it.” 

Jack pouted at Gwen. He knew she was trying to keep him distracted and if he was honest with himself, he was grateful. She’d also been right about getting Rhys and Andy to keep an eye on the Davies household, it had allowed the team to focus on Ianto and had avoided having to tell his family about Torchwood. 

Gwen stuck her tongue out at Jack and then checked her phone as she noted an incoming text from Rhys.

“Rhys says that it’s just as well he loves me otherwise he’d never forgive me for making him share a sofa bed with Andy.” Gwen grinned. 

“Now there’s an image to feed the imagination.” Jack winked at Gwen. “Right, Mrs Williams, I’m gonna drop you off at your flat and then I want you to lock yourself in – bolts, security chain, the works, then I’m going back to the Hub – ‘discover’ the coral is missing and then storm over to the safe house to find out what the hell Ianto’s been up to. He’d just better be there.”


	21. Chapter 21

Ianto was sitting on the lumpy sofa in the darkened flat. Although he wasn’t entirely sure whether or not he’d passed whatever test Volitana had set him, he did know that if he sat in the dark, without moving a muscle, it didn’t hurt so much. He also knew that Jack would be pounding at the door before too long and he was making the most of the peace and quiet whilst he still could. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, Ianto absently noted that the hand that he had rested on the arm of the sofa was shaking. It then dawned on him that it wasn’t just that hand that was shaking. Fuzzy logic told him that the trembling in his limbs was probably down to the fact that the heating was off. However, once he’d weighed up the pros and cons of getting up to adjust the thermostat, he’d opted for staying exactly where he was. He was feeling drowsy and thought that maybe he’d manage to fall asleep where he was.

Even though he was expecting it, the hammering on the door still startled Ianto, snapping him out of the stupor that had been steadily dragging him under. Getting up too quickly proved a mistake as a wave of vertigo struck, prompting him to grab onto the back of the sofa to avoid falling over. It was at that moment that Jack finished unlocking the door and entered the flat to see Ianto staggering in his direction.

“What the hell happened to you?” demanded Jack, grasping Ianto by the arms. 

“I’ll be fine,” Ianto said slowly, hoping he wasn’t blurring the words together. As his hearing seemed muffled he couldn’t tell if he’d got away with it or not.

“What happened to the lights?” demanded Jack.

“Lights? Oh… the lights. I turned them off. Too bright. Didn’t need them on.”

“Come on – let’s get you sat down.” Jack frowned as he took Ianto by the arm and led him back to the sofa. “You feel sick or dizzy at all?” 

“A bit of both,” admitted Ianto, reluctantly. Nausea and vertigo had struck with a vengeance as soon as he’d stood up.

“Oh yeah, that’d be the concussion that Owen thought you might have.” Jack shucked his coat and threw it over the back of a chair. “Come on, put your feet up on the sofa – hey, they’re soaking wet. What happened?”

“Dog shit,” muttered Ianto. 

Jack shook his head at the apparent non sequitur and focused on peeling the damp socks from Ianto’s feet.

“Ianto you’ve been walking outdoors in your socks – where are your shoes?” 

“Threw them in a skip – there was dog shit on them.” 

Ianto gave Jack a look as if it was a particularly stupid question.

On his way along the waterside towards the safe house, Jack’s dark mood had been steering him in the direction of a major showdown with Ianto over taking unnecessary risks. The rushed debriefing with Tosh and Owen had been enough to leave him fuming. However, from the moment he’d walked into the darkened flat, he realised that his priority had to be looking after Ianto first and that the row would have to be put on standby.

“I’m going to put the table lamp on. OK?”

Ianto murmured something that sounded noncommittal, but Jack went ahead anyway, he needed to get a better look at the state Ianto was in. Once he’d put the light on, he fetched the medical kit from the bathroom and dragged one of the stools out of the kitchen so he could sit next to the sofa. By the time he got back, Ianto’s eyes were shut and he looked as if he’d drifted off.

“C’mon and wake up, gorgeous – need to check up on you.”

“’m OK.” Ianto cracked open his eyes just enough to be able to see Jack through his lashes.

“Bullshit.” 

The light allowed Jack to see the damage done to Ianto’s face, he just hoped it looked worse than it was. He grabbed hold of a packet containing antiseptic wipes and ripped it open before pulling out a wipe and gently dabbing away the dried blood from Ianto’s mouth and chin. 

“How’s that lip feel? Looks swollen to me.”

Ianto probed the small split with the tip of his tongue and then pulled a face that Jack couldn’t decipher.

“That bad?”

“Tastes disgusting.”

“That’s the antiseptic.” Jack leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to the bruised mouth. “Owen said you’d taken a bash to the back of the head, hard enough to knock you out for a few minutes and, according to Tosh, it was bleeding. I need to get a look at it - see if you should get it stitched up.”

“No way am I letting you stick a needle in my head!” Ianto’s eyes shot open in horror. 

Only once had he allowed Jack to suture him, after he’d got a nasty bite from a weevil, neither of them wanting to incur Owen’s wrath by calling him up in the middle of the night. He should have been suspicious when Jack had leered at him whilst asserting that ‘scars are sexy’. 

“I never said I was. I just want to clean it up and then if it does need stitches I’ve got some steri-strips that’ll do the trick until Owen gets his hands on you.”

“I don’t know which prospect terrifies me most, you playing at doctor or Owen getting his hands on me.” 

“Now see – I happen to know you love it when I play doctor, so if you keep acting out of character I’m gonna think that blow to the head caused some serious damage.” 

Jack sighed as he gently tucked his hands behind Ianto’s head and carefully probed for telltale strands of hair stuck together with dried blood. 

“Ouch!” Ianto batted Jack’s hand away.

“Oh yeah, there it is.” Jack kept his voice light, but wasn’t happy with the raised lump on the back of Ianto’s skull. He pressed his lips together as he pacified his urge for vengeance with thoughts of how he’d inflict damage to the head of the blowfish responsible for hurting Ianto. “Think you lie down so I can clean it up?”

“Yeah.” Ianto shifted until he was lying on his stomach, with his head resting on the arm of the sofa. He reached out a hand to grab hold of Jack’s knee. “I don’t suppose there are any more of Owen’s special recipe pain meds are there?”

“Have you taken anything for the pain yet?” 

“I don’t think so.” Ianto frowned; he was momentarily confused and couldn’t recall if he’d got as far as the kitchen before he’d surrendered to the need to sit down.

“Let’s play it safe then and hold off until I get you into bed.” Jack didn’t want to risk Ianto overdosing on painkillers whilst suffering from a concussion – Owen would never let him live it down.

“That a threat or a promise?” mumbled Ianto, his eyes sparkling with a hint of mischief.

“We’ll play that whichever way you wish, gorgeous. I’m easy.”

Jack smiled to himself as he parted the sticky clumps of hair to reveal a small cut, only a couple of centimetres long, but gaping wide. Head wounds always bled a lot he reminded himself as he rummaged through the medical kit to find a small tube of wound glue. 

“Now I need you to stay still while I hold the edges together.”

“What’re you doing? Feels weird.” 

“Sticking you back together– although I’d much rather you didn’t get broken in the first place.”

“It’s just a small cut, that’s all. Stop fussing, will you?”

“If I want to worry about you, I will – so don’t even think of trying to stop me. Got it?”

“Now you mention it… worrying that is…” Ianto hesitated, thinking that surely Jack would have told him if there was anything he needed to know. “Rhi and the kids – they are safe aren’t they?” 

“They’re all fine. Rhys and Andy are staying over.”

“And my sister went along with that?” Ianto asked sceptically.

“Apparently so.” Jack shrugged.

“Shit … that can only mean she’s going to make me pay.”

“Not necessarily – by all accounts she was quite worried when Andy told her you were involved in a sting operation in order to protect Welsh state secrets.”

“Bloody hell.” Ianto could just imagine the conversation his sister was going to insist on having the next time she saw him. “Is it ethically acceptable to retcon your own family?”

“Ianto Jones, you wouldn’t!”

“You haven’t actually met Rhiannon in person have you?”

“No, but I have spoken to her on the phone.” Jack shuddered as he sympathised with Ianto. But then again, she wasn’t alone in being worried about her brother. “Meanwhile. If you’re that concerned about getting the third degree, how about I give you some practice?”

“Jack?” Ianto squirmed, trying unsuccessfully to get up from the sofa.

“Don’t move a muscle – still holding your head together.” Jack gripped hold of the edges of the cut with one hand while he placed the other between Ianto’s shoulder blades and pushed him back down. “Good. See, I’ve got a few questions of my own and I want to hear what you’ve got to say for yourself.”

“OK.” Ianto dragged the word out slowly, not liking the tone that Jack was now adopting – it was his interrogation voice, and not the fun one.

“What did you think you were playing at, letting that bastard drag you out of sight without any resistance at all?”

“How did you know -?”

“Tosh and Owen filled me in with what they observed. You were meant to stay near the road. That’s what we agreed – where you could be seen by CCTV.”

“I know, but…” Ianto floundered, not sure how to confess to Jack that he’d been prepared to go through with whatever was asked of him as long as his family stayed safe.

“Well?” Jack spat out from between clenched jaws. “What the hell was going through your head?”

“I was going through with the plan – you know, the one that involved meeting up with a blowfish by the water bus stop.” Ianto twisted around and glared at Jack. “It might have helped if I’d known that Tosh and Owen were going to be there!”

“It’s just as well they were there.” Jack countered. “You could’ve got yourself killed otherwise.” 

“He wouldn’t have killed me.” Ianto dislodged Jack’s grip on his scalp as he swung his feet back onto the thin rug in an effort to get into a less vulnerable position.

“Maybe not, but he did threaten you, didn’t he?” Jack’s voice became harsher as he tried to refrain from taking out his rage on Ianto.

“You know blowfish, Jack, they’re all mouth-” 

“Don’t you dare play it down! Tosh cleaned up the recording. I heard what he said.”

“Recording?”

“Yeah – she rigged up a microphone on the car’s antenna – trouble is she didn’t have time to calibrate it earlier and all they picked up in the field was you screaming out in pain.”

“I wasn’t the only one,” protested Ianto. “I managed to head butt him in the bollocks, or whatever blowfish keep in their pants. Made his eyes water, I know that.”

“Glad to hear you remembered something about self defence, I was beginning to wonder. Still doesn’t change the fact that when I find him I’m going to make him wish he’d never been hatched.” 

Jack got up from the stool and sat next to Ianto on the sofa, gently cuffing him about the head.

“So, I guess you know that he got the coral.” Ianto sighed heavily. “I’m sorry, Jack – I know what it means to you. I swear I’ll find a way to get it back.”

“No need.” Jack said quietly.

“What?” Ianto frowned, wondering if he’d misheard Jack.

“It wasn’t the original. It’s a facsimile – contains an undetectable tracker that Tosh is in the process of monitoring even as we speak.” Jack smiled smugly, inordinately proud of his team.

“You bastard!” swore Ianto as he scrambled up from the sofa.


	22. Chapter 22

“Hey! Where d’ya think you’re going?” Jack sprung to his feet and grabbed hold of Ianto around the waist, preventing him from getting away. 

“I don’t know,” admitted Ianto, dejectedly, resigned to the fact that however pissed off he was with Jack there was no escaping him.

“Sit down then. Please?” Jack loosened his grip on Ianto. “What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?” Ianto exclaimed in disbelief, spinning around to confront Jack. 

“How dare you ask me what’s the matter? Why don’t we start with what you told me this afternoon? You said you’d let me take the coral. You let me think I meant more to you…” Ianto let the words die on his lips as if the truth had suddenly dawned on him. “Oh, shit, of course not. So much for knowing everything, I know fuck all. I was prepared to believe you.”

Not waiting to hear what Jack had to say for himself, Ianto headed for the bedroom, determined to put some distance between them. He threw himself on the bed, rolled onto his back and flung an arm across his face, not wanting to see Jack if he followed him, which he knew he would.

“I said I would if I had to, but it wasn’t necessary.” Jack sounded remorseful from the doorway to the bedroom. 

“Yes, but-”

“You had to believe it was the real thing.” 

“Didn’t you trust me?”

“It’s her I don’t trust, Ianto. Not you.” 

Jack wondered if it would help his cause if he admitted to Ianto that he wanted to place a tracker on him as well, but settled for one in the coral, hoping that if Ianto was abducted again, he’d not be far from the fake coral. Choosing to keep that to himself, Jack sighed wearily as he hung his head in regret. 

“Never you.”

“So, why aren’t you back at the Hub tracking the blowfish?” Ianto said bitterly. “You could have sent Owen over to patch me up.”

“Tosh is perfectly capable of tracing the signal being emitted. And you… you needed me.”

“You sound very sure of that.” 

“Yeah.” Jack slowly walked towards the bed, prepared to stop in his tracks if Ianto asked him to leave. “And I needed to see for myself that you were alright.”

Ianto lifted his arm away from his face so he could see Jack. Their eyes met briefly. Ianto shuffled to one side making room on the bed for Jack to join him. Accepting the unspoken invitation, Jack kicked off his boots and lay on his side next to Ianto.

“Gwen says she doesn’t know how you put up with me. Am I really that bad?” Jack asked anxiously.

“What do you think?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?” Jack raised an eyebrow and chanced his luck with a cheeky smile.

“Well, now you mention it.” Ianto sighed softly. “You’re right about one thing though.” 

“What’s that?”

“I do need you.” Ianto began to slowly unbutton Jack’s shirt. “It’s been over a week hasn’t it?”

“Yeah and I still need to make amends for my behaviour, don’t I?” 

Jack slid a hand under the edge of Ianto’s loose-fitting t-shirt and pushed it up and out of his way, giving him better access to the younger man’s body. He’d missed taking the time to run his fingers through the downy hair on Ianto’s chest, following the trail downwards as it narrowed around his navel and beyond. 

“About time if you ask me.” Ianto hooked an arm around Jack’s neck and pulled him down to capture his mouth in a kiss that was anything but chaste. 

“Does that mean I’m forgiven?” asked Jack, breathlessly.

“You’re getting there – I’m sure you can think of something to persuade me.”

“So am I – but it’s going to require less clothing. A lot less clothing.” 

Jack unbuckled the belt around Ianto’s waist, deftly unbuttoned his jeans and gradually pulled the zip down, teasingly brushing his fingers over the bulge beneath.

“It’s a bit cold in here.” Ianto shivered involuntarily. 

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ll soon get you warmed up.”

Jack took care as he undressed Ianto, not wanting to disturb any wounds or dressings as he did so. He took a lot less care over removing his own clothing and before long was lying alongside Ianto, under the blankets. It had been well over a week since they’d lain next to each other, skin against skin, completely naked. The last time they’d had sex had been a rushed affair with Jack taking control and not bothering to do more than push Ianto’s trousers and pants to his knees and unbuttoning his own fly. The memory made Jack ashamed once more and he shook his head as if trying to rid himself of the recollections of his behaviour and its consequences.

“What’s the problem?” whispered Ianto, noticing how Jack had gone tense.

“Me. I’m so sorry, Ianto. I can be such a thoughtless-”

Ianto roughly grabbed hold of Jack’s head and kissed him as if he wanted to erase the words of apology from Jack’s mouth. 

“Cut it out, Jack… we both screw up. I overanalyse and you act without thinking.” 

Ianto was lying on top of Jack by the time he finished kissing him, straddling his hips to hold him in place. Lowering his head so it rested on the pillow they were sharing, Ianto brushed his lips across Jack’s neck, and nibbled gently on his ear lobe as he spoke softly, issuing a challenge he knew his lover couldn’t resist. 

“Meanwhile, I’m freezing my arse off here and you claimed you’d warm me up.”

“So I did …” Jack reached down to grasp hold of the cheeks of Ianto’s arse. “Hey, you are cold, that won’t do at all.”

“No, it won’t. Come on, warm me up and give me a fucking good reason to feel sore tomorrow.”

Jack needed no further prompting. Any doubts he may have had about taking advantage of Ianto after he’d been injured, yet again, were put to rest as Ianto started to move in such a way that his arousal was slowly, yet very deliberately, rubbing against Jack’s own erection. Yes, they both needed this – the chance to convince each other that not only was Ianto still alive, but that his pulse could race along with Jack’s as they pushed each other to their limits and beyond. It didn’t take long before they were pushing the covers away from sweat-slicked limbs, their breathing becoming faster as Ianto grabbed hold of the headboard, anchoring him as Jack lost control, thrusting harder and faster. There was nothing gentle or tender about their love-making, bruises would be left that neither of them would want Owen to know about, not to mention teeth marks, but it was just what they both needed, getting all the pent-up frustrations out physically. 

Naked, vulnerable and stripped bare of the masks they’d each adopted as defence mechanisms, they lay in a post-coital haze, limbs entwined, gasping for air, but with their absolute trust in one another restored.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto woke with a throbbing headache. It seemed as if the blood was pulsing through his brain so loudly he could actually hear it. No, it wasn’t inside his skull, but outside and as he surfaced to full consciousness he recognised the sound as that of the ringtone on Jack’s phone. Opening his eyes just enough to see, he groaned as the bright light squeezing through a gap in the curtains seemed to bore through his skull. His natural instinct was to burrow further under the blankets to hide away from both the light and the noise, but the movement only made him feel queasy.

Suddenly the whole mattress seemed to shift underneath him, which heightened the sensation of intense discomfort. A flailing arm crashed against his shoulder, elevating the discomfort to pain. Sharp, agonising pain.

“Ow!” 

“Sorry! Gotta get the phone.”

The ringing stopped abruptly, allowing Ianto to gather at least some of his senses. He couldn’t hear what Jack was saying as he’d wandered off into the other room, and he didn’t trust the brightness of the morning light not to hurt his eyes, which left him with his senses of smell, taste and touch. Pulling the sheets up over his head proved to be a mistake as he was suddenly enveloped in the stale smells of sweat and sex, which reminded him of what they’d got up to before he’d either fallen asleep or passed out, he wasn’t sure which. It occurred to him, belatedly, that there was a reason Owen usually prescribed peace and quiet for concussion, not exceptionally energetic make-up sex. In fact the doctor had gone out of his way in the past to expressly forbid any such activity. Ianto was beginning to understand his logic. Owen would make his life hell if he found out, perhaps even withhold the good painkillers. 

Whilst contemplating Owen’s reactions, Ianto felt the need to brush his teeth, his mouth was dry and his tongue felt furry. Sneaking a quick glance in the direction of the door to the small bathroom, it struck him that what he really wanted was a shower or even a bath. Lifting an arm to block out the sunlight from his eyes, he caught a strong waft of body odour, confirming the fact that he not only wanted a shower, he needed one. Even the scent of Jack’s pheromones wasn’t masking the smell, if anything, it was intensifying it. As random thoughts came to mind concerning laundry and whether or not he had any clean sheets left, he remembered that he wasn’t at home. He missed his own bed and decided that he wasn’t going to spend another night in the safe house, no matter what Jack decreed. It wasn’t as if Volitana and her acolytes didn’t know where to find him.

However, Ianto’s immediate priority was getting out of the bed in the first place. The trouble was that he didn’t think he could move. Lying flat on his back with his eyes firmly shut seemed the safest position, as soon as he attempted anything more adventurous, like slowly rolling onto his side, he felt thoroughly sick. There was nothing for it, he decided, he took the risk, reckoning that if he could get to the edge of the bed he could drop to the floor and then crawl to the bathroom. It hadn’t seemed to be particularly high off the ground, it wasn’t a divan bed after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack had just finished his conversation on the phone and was considering how he could sneak back into the bedroom to get dressed, without disturbing Ianto, when the issue was made a moot point. There was a loud thump, swiftly followed by the sound of breaking glass and a string of grumbled profanities. Jack wasted no time rushing to Ianto’s aid. He found the naked Welshman on his hands and knees at the side of the bed contemplating a spreading puddle of water and a broken tumbler as if they were a problem to be solved. 

“What is it? What’s wrong?” Jack asked anxiously as he grabbed hold of a soiled t-shirt and used it to sweep the shards of broken glass under the bed and out of harm’s way.

“My head hurts. I smell and I want a shower… and I think I’m going to be sick.” 

Ianto added the last complaint as an afterthought as his stomach clenched and he swallowed hard, not wanting to add to his considerable indignity by throwing up on the rug.

“Damn, you’re still concussed, aren’t you?” concluded Jack. “You should have said … we shouldn’t have … Owen’s going to kill me.”

“Too late. I didn’t, we did and he will. If he finds out.” Ianto grabbed hold of Jack’s proffered hand as he pushed up from the floor into a sitting position. “If it makes you feel any less guilty, I’d probably be feeling just as rough if you’d slept on the sofa. Maybe not as sore, but I don’t regret what we did last night.”

Jack sighed as he helped to prop Ianto up against the side of the bed.

“You’re a glutton for punishment, you know that don’t you?”

“Yep.” 

Ianto rested his head on the mattress behind him and closed his eyes, smiling wryly. He knew that to Jack it was just a throwaway line, but it summed up every relationship he’d ever been in. The harder he tried to make things right, the more it ended up blowing up in his face. 

“Always have been.” 

Jack gave Ianto a quizzical look, catching a glimpse of some deeply buried secrets coming close to the surface before sinking out of sight once more. One day they’d have enough time for that conversation, the one where he’d finally find out why Ianto always avoided discussing his past. ‘Hidden depths’ was a phrase that described Ianto Jones on so many levels.

“If you can stand up without keeling over I’ll help you get cleaned up. I could probably do with a shower myself before I go back to the Hub.”

“What time is it?” 

“Five thirty.”

“Who was calling at this time?” Ianto suddenly remembered what had woken him up in the first place. “Is there a problem? Rift?”

“No, no, nothing like that – it’s just that Tosh has been working through the night and Owen reckoned she wouldn’t take a break unless I told her to.” Jack hoped that Ianto wouldn’t push him for more details. “He said he’ll take her back to her place once I take over from them.”

“Oh, I see.” Ianto considered the implications of that. “Glad to see Owen’s looking out for her. Pity it took a bullet to the heart for him to admit to having feelings for her.”

“Yeah, well he’s not the only one to take someone special for granted,” mumbled Jack, partly under his breath.

“You’re not getting soppy on me are you?” Ianto gently nudged Jack with his elbow.

“Who? Me? Never!” growled Jack in reply.

“Thank fuck for that.” Ianto looked away quickly, feeling his face becoming warmer and not wanting Jack to see the effect of his words. “I’m going in with you.”

“We’ll see about that.” Jack sighed as he sprung to his feet and helped Ianto up from the floor. “Ready for that shower then?”

“More than you could ever believe.” 

Jack took a good look at Ianto and could see the marks he’d made in the height of passion, marking Ianto as his. Claiming his lover’s body and daring anyone or anything to try and take it away from him.

“No taking advantage of me though, got that?” said Jack, sternly, as he raised his eyebrows.

“Did you really just say that?” Ianto chuckled gently, amused at the mere thought of Jack imposing a ban on sexual activity, especially in the shower. 

“Let’s just hope Owen doesn’t demand to see how your injuries are healing. One look at your body and he’ll have me in a muzzle.”

“Is there something about your relationship with Owen I need to know about?”

Jack shook his head and smiled to himself, glad to have Ianto teasing him again. It meant their relationship was definitely on the mend.

“C’mon – let’s get you in the shower. Lean on me.”


	23. Chapter 23

It had proved to be more difficult than they’d thought, even though they’d not even attempted to indulge in shower sex. There really wasn’t room for two men in the shower cubicle at once and they’d had to leave the door open, which had inevitably resulted in the bathroom being flooded. To make sure Ianto didn’t slip over and incur any further injuries, Jack had thrown most of the towels down on the floor to soak up the water, including those he’d set aside for himself. However, it was all made worthwhile by the mildly euphoric look on Ianto’s face as he sat on the edge of the bath tub to let Jack gently towel dry his hair.

“I’m gonna have to see if I can stick the edges of this back together again.” Jack frowned as he checked out the small wound on the back of Ianto’s head. “I did tell you it had to be kept dry.”

“And I told you that if I didn’t get my hair washed, I’d shave it all off – and I meant it,” countered Ianto. “Is it bleeding then?”

“Just a little bit.” Jack dabbed at the cut with the corner of the towel and was relieved to see only a few drops of red on the white.

“How’s my back?” Ianto tried to look over his shoulder. 

“Healing well, thank goodness. No infection.” Jack cupped Ianto’s jaw with one hand to get his attention. “How do you feel? Truthfully.”

“Still got a headache, but it’s not so bad now. Aching in all the usual places.” Ianto smirked slightly as he caught Jack’s eye. “But I feel better now than I have for over a week – thank you. You’ve no idea how good it feels.”

As their eyes met, both men knew it wasn’t just the shower that Ianto was referring to.

Jack kissed Ianto softly on the mouth, thanking him for his forgiveness, grateful that he was still alive. 

“Much as I’d like to get you all dirty again, it’s time we got dressed and headed back to the Hub – that’s if you’re still planning on coming in with me?”

“I don’t suggest you try stopping me.” 

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Owen glared at Ianto as he stepped off the lift platform. “You should be in bed, in the dark, with a bucket on standby.”

“If I’d known you were going to yell at me, that’s where I would have stayed.” Ianto replied, nudging Jack in the gut with an elbow to prevent him from saying ‘I told you so’, even though his smug expression showed that he was thinking it. 

“So what made you decide to leave your bed and come here?” asked Owen.

“I fancied some fresh air.”

“It’s pissing it down and there’s a gale blowing in off the bloody sea.”

“Like I said – fresh air.” Ianto shrugged.

“Only the bloody Welsh,” muttered Owen to himself, before rounding on Jack. “As for you, I thought you were going to look after him? You promised-”

“He did look after me, Owen.” Ianto cut in quickly, feeling slightly guilty about Jack taking the blame for actions he’d insisted on. “Scout’s honour.”

“I bet neither of you were ever scouts.” Owen observed scathingly, before pointing at Ianto and demanding: “How’s your head?”

“Scalp lac,” Jack intercepted the question on Ianto’s behalf. “I glued the edges together – think it’s still holding.”

Owen looked from one man to the other, knowing damn well that they weren’t telling him everything; not only that, they were covering for each other. Then it occurred to him that the last thing he wanted to know was what they’d really been up to the previous night. He shook his head in despair, wondering why he bothered giving medical advice to idiots who chose to ignore it.

“Where’s the crutch? Dr Harkness say you didn’t need it anymore?”

“No, that was my idea. My ankle feels much better today.” 

Ianto had insisted on leaving it behind at the safe house, even though Jack had tried to persuade him not to. He’d wanted to show the others that he could look out for himself, despite recent evidence to the contrary. 

Jack raised an eyebrow and decided to keep his concerns to himself despite knowing that Ianto hadn’t been able to walk on that ankle totally without pain. The fact that Ianto had let him wrap an arm around his waist, as they’d walked into the wind and rain on their way to the Hub was testament to the trust the young man was placing in him, in more ways than one.

Before Owen could pursue the issue of Ianto’s state of health any further, Tosh appeared from the direction of the locker room, with a large bag containing her clothes from the previous evening.

“Ianto! How are you?” Tosh dropped her bags on the floor and dashed over to give her colleague a hug, reaching up to wrap her arms about his neck. “I was so worried.”

“I’m fine,” replied Ianto quickly. Looking for a distraction, he glanced at the black leather items spilling from one of the bags that Tosh had set down. “Interesting outfit that – surprised you don’t wear it to work more often.”

“Don’t you start!” Tosh scolded him playfully.

“Owen? You’ve not been harassing Tosh have you?” Ianto feigned mock outrage.  
“What do you think? I’m not completely dead you know.”  
“Did I miss something?” asked Jack looking more than a little put out. “I thought harassment was the boss’s prerogative.” 

“No, it’s not. It’s just that you take it to entirely inappropriate levels.” Ianto gave Jack a sly wink. “Meanwhile, I think Owen should make sure Tosh gets home safely.”

“OK then, we’ll take over from here. What’ve you got so far?” Jack took Tosh by the arm and steered her towards her workstation, pretending he’d not already been given an update by Owen. 

“It’s odd, Jack.” Tosh wrinkled her nose in disgust, never happy with a problem that refused to be solved. “I tracked the signal from the transmitter all the way downstream, along the river, and then along the western edge of the Bay. Steady progress all the way and then it just stopped and hasn’t moved since.”

“Show me.”

Tosh moved past Jack to get to the nearest computer and deftly typed in the access code to the tracker signal. A map of the Bay appeared and there, on the barrage, was a flashing red light. A smaller window popped up, showing a grey image of the area in the early morning light.

“Isn’t that near the place where Ianto was found?” Jack asked. 

“Not quite – but pretty close, yeah,” Owen answered as if he’d not already discussed that very point with Jack earlier on. 

“How long has it been there?” Jack jabbed a finger at the pulsing red spot on the screen.

“Just over four hours.” Tosh pulled up a chart showing the time stamp for when it had reached its current position. “CCTV shows no signs of it being dumped anywhere visible, I’ve checked.”

“It’s getting light – I’d have thought they’d have got it out of sight by now.” Owen sounded confused. Is it possible they just tossed it into the Bay?”

“Maybe it’s not been dumped – maybe it’s just waiting to be collected,” Ianto speculated quietly.

“What’s that?” Owen prompted Ianto.

“I’m just saying that maybe it’s there for someone to collect.” 

“Why there though?” Jack shook his head, perplexed. 

“Hang on …” Ianto held up a hand, frowning as he tried to grab hold of an elusive memory. “That’s where the sea locks are … when I first came around, after I’d been kidnapped, I could taste salt water.”

“You’d been dunked in the Bay, teaboy – you’d probably swallowed a lot of water, surprised you didn’t drown to be honest.” 

“No, that’s not right - the Bay is freshwater! That’s the whole point of the barrage – it was designed to create a large freshwater lake.”

“Are you saying that they took you out to sea?” Jack rested a hand on Ianto’s shoulder, supporting him as he relived what had happened to him. “Were you held in a boat?”

“No – I’d have remembered that.” Ianto shook his head. “There wasn’t any rocking motion or anything that suggested I was in a boat. But I do remember that the walls and floors were metal. I could hear echoes of sounds … and my ears hurt.”

“Not out at sea – under the sea!” exclaimed Tosh. 

“Jack – you said these blowfish have been in Cardiff for over a century, yes?” Ianto turned to Jack quickly.

“Yeah – they were already well established here when I arrived. So make that at least a hundred years.”

“At that time the whole Bay area would have been open to the sea, a vast port, with docks, easily accessible from the Bristol Channel.” 

Ianto hesitated as he felt the eyes of the others focusing on him. But it made sense, the more he remembered about the cell he’d been held in, the more alien it seemed in retrospect. The angles had been all wrong, the rivets holding the metal plates were unlike any he’d ever seen before. 

“Jack – what if the blowfish originally came through the rift in a ship of some sort and it crashed into the sea? What if it’s still out there?”

“But how would they have survived the crash?” Tosh took her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose wearily, it had been a long night and she was having trouble keeping up with the tangent the discussion had taken.

“They’re bloody fish aren’t they – as long as the actual crash didn’t kill them it’s not as if they’d drown,” suggested Owen.

“Ianto – if you’re right and their base is out in the Bristol Channel, they must be waiting for the locks to open so they can take the coral out to sea,” deduced Tosh as she pulled up closer images of the locks as well as a schedule for ships that had already arranged to enter the Bay in time for the Cardiff Bay Harbour Festival.

“Why not just jump off the barrage and swim to it?” asked Owen.

“Have you ever seen a wet blowfish?” asked Ianto. “They wear suits you know – they’re dry clean only for a reason.”

“I might’ve known that would’ve impressed you. So, are you suggesting that all we have to do is wait for them to leave the Bay through the lock and then -”

“Track them.” Jack grinned. “They must have some form of underwater transport – that’s how they must have got Ianto away without us detecting anything. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Owen looked from the screen to Jack and back again. “I don’t suppose there’s a Torchwood submarine tucked away anywhere?”

“Of course there is, Owen,” Ianto rolled his eyes. “It’s in the underwater boathouse and Troy Tempest was modelled on Jack.”

“What?”

“Stingray?” Ianto looked at Owen in disbelief, as if the reference should have been obvious. 

“You’re not old enough to remember that.”

“Torchwood One monitored everything Gerry Anderson ever produced. They suspected him of obtaining insider information from Torchwood and UNIT. I mean, come on, Captain Scarlet – indestructible? Fighting aliens? Ring any bells?”

“Oh my god…” Tosh spun around in her seat to see if Ianto was being serious. “And I’d always thought that it was UNIT that got their idea for the Valiant from Skybase.” 

“Actually …there is a Torchwood boathouse,” murmured Jack.

“There’s a what?!” 

They’d forgotten about Gwen. They hadn’t heard her arrive, muttering about the weather.

“Have I missed something?” Gwen asked as she stalked her way towards the gathered team, clutching a soggy bag of pastries in one hand. 

“Are those pastries?” asked Jack.

“Boathouse, Jack – we’ve got a boathouse?”

“You’re going to have to come clean, Jack.” Ianto gave Jack a ‘told you so’ look of his own, before looking to Gwen for reassurance. “Are Rhys and Andy still at my sister’s place?”

“Yes, Ianto – everything’s fine there. I got a text from Rhys before I came in saying he was cooking breakfast.”

“Is that code for something?” Ianto frowned, looking worried.

“Egg, sausage and bacon I should think – don’t worry, love.”

“Oh, that’s OK then.”

“So, Jack – about this boathouse?”

Jack looked sheepish as he turned to look in Ianto’s direction.

“I don’t suppose you could –”

“Coffee?”

“Please.”


	24. Chapter 24

No longer able to benefit from Ianto’s talents when it came to the preparation of hot beverages, Owen insisted on examining him before letting him fulfil Jack’s demands for caffeine. He wanted to make sure he was genuinely on the mend and not bullshitting him. What he discovered as Ianto reluctantly unbuttoned his shirt was enough to make him bellow for Jack to join them so that he could tell them both exactly what he thought about their exploits. He didn’t relent in his bollocking until he thought he’d got through to them – he judged that to be the point where Ianto stopped rolling his eyes, but looked at his feet and when Jack looked suitably guilty. Doling out another dose of painkillers, he dismissed them as if they were a pair of naughty schoolboys. 

“That told you two then,” sniped Gwen from the sofa where she’d decided to sit and wait. 

“Shut up, Gwen.” Ianto muttered as he headed straight for the coffee machine. “Or I’ll spit in your cappuccino.”

“Honestly though – I expect it of Jack, but I thought you’d know better, Ianto.”

“My office, Gwen. Now.” Jack pointed at Gwen meaningfully. He didn’t want her winding Ianto up. He then turned to see Tosh still monitoring the tracker she’d installed in the facsimile of the coral from his desk. “You too, Tosh – doesn’t look like you’re headed home any time soon. You can do that from my workstation.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen grumbled loudly as he set down the tray of coffees on Jack’s desk. 

“Make the most of it, Harkness, I’m not going to be making a habit of this – as soon as he can manage the stairs and a tray of hot drinks without doing himself even more harm, he’s back to servicing all your needs.”

Ianto suppressed a smirk as he perched on the edge of the desk and picked up the cup of weak tea that Owen had restricted him to. As he lifted it to his lips he could see over the rim of the cup that Gwen was eyeing the froth on her coffee suspiciously. Then he turned to look at Jack, just as the others were, all waiting for him to explain exactly what he had meant by ‘boathouse’.

Ever the showman, Jack stood up and then held up his arm to access the controls on his wrist strap to open a panel in the office wall. He then reached into the cavity and pulled out a cylindrical wooden box, which was adorned with elaborate brass straps, tarnished with age. Although the box appeared antiquated, the lock itself was from another era, a future one by all appearances. Jack plucked a hair from his head and slid it into a small depression in the lock, root first. 

“A DNA coded lock that small? Very nice.” Tosh almost purred in appreciation as she turned back to keep an eye on the flashing light that still hadn’t moved from its position.

Jack smiled at her as he popped open the lid and extracted a rolled-up blueprint of the Torchwood base. It was composed of several overlays, each revealing a deeper level. Jack laid these out on his desk, using various items, including the silver tea tray, as paper weights at each corner. Gwen and Owen moved closer, peering at the details. The railways tracks which led towards London were clearly marked, as was a tunnel leading out towards the cliffs beyond the present location of the barrage. At the end of the tunnel there was an area depicted as being open to the sea. Jack pointed to the label that stated, in exquisitely neat handwriting, ‘The Boat House’.

“Why didn’t I know about that?” complained Ianto, petulantly. He thought he’d discovered all of the hidden features of the base, he’d researched it well before he’d smuggled in Lisa’s body. However, he’d always suspected that Jack had another means of getting to Flat Holm other than the usual ferry that he had to make use of. Many a time he’d set off for the island only to find Jack already there at the quayside, waiting for him.

“Hey, I’ve been here longer than you,” retorted Jack. “And besides, I’ve gotta have some secrets.”

“No, Jack, you don’t have to have secrets. What you need to do is share information with the people who work with you.” Gwen’s hands were firmly planted on her hips and there was that glint in her eyes that meant trouble. “What’s in there?”

“Boats.” Jack shrugged ingenuously. “And, for the record, you work for me. I don’t have to tell any of you anything, unless I decide it’s necessary.”

“What sort of fucking boats?” Owen blurted out impatiently. He could tell from the way that Gwen and Jack were staring at each other, neither breaking eye contact, that they were on the verge of yet another pissing match. That was the last thing any of them needed, especially Ianto, if the way he’d just gulped down several mouthfuls of steaming hot coffee from Jack’s mug was anything to go by. “Oi, I saw that – no coffee!”

“Ianto!” exclaimed Jack.

“Never mind that, answer Owen – what boats?”

“You know – kayak, rowboat, floating alien exoskeleton… speedboat -”

“Specs?” Tosh demanded, momentarily abandoning her monitoring of the tracker. 

Jack smiled indulgently as he moved from behind his desk and across to where Tosh was sitting. He leaned over her to pull up a new access portal and typed in a password that called up the specs of his pride and joy. Tosh scrolled through the specs avidly, mumbling under her breath as she absorbed the information.

“The Sea Queen?” snorted Owen, who was looking over Tosh’s shoulder. “Are you for real, Jack?”

“I take it that means you don’t wanna go for a ride.” 

“I didn’t say that-”

“Oh shit!” Tosh swore, interrupting Owen.

“What is it, Tosh?” demanded Jack.

“It’s moved!” Tosh drew their attention back to the screen, which was now filled with the map of Cardiff Bay. “It’s gone through the lock and is heading out into the Bristol Channel.”

“Bollocks. What are we waiting for?” Owen yelled. “Jack – we are going after it aren’t we?”

“Not we. Me.” Jack asserted firmly. “I’m going after it.”

“Not on your own you’re not. I’m coming with you!” Gwen glared at Jack.

“Not this time.” Jack shook his head.

“You going to tell me I can’t come along either?” asked Ianto pointedly.

“Yes, dammit – for a start, you’re still sick, didn’t you listen to what Owen told you?” Jack moved to Ianto’s side and looked to Owen for back up.

“He’s got a point, Ianto – you’ll be throwing your guts up as soon as we hit open water. You’re not steady enough on your feet on land, never mind at sea, and you’re still nauseous. You need to stay here, mate.”

“But-”

“But, nothing. Remember - you’re still being watched.” Jack put a hand on Ianto’s knee. He knew that he was resorting to underhand tactics, but he wanted Ianto to stay where he knew he’d be safe. “You’re staying in the Hub.” 

“Agreed. But you’re not going alone, Harkness. I’m coming along for that ride you promised me.”

“Owen-”

“I can’t drown – remember.” Owen looked at Jack meaningfully, hoping he would recall the time he took a dive off the jetty and stayed under water for thirty-six minutes, or so Jack had informed him, as he pressed down the button on a stopwatch that had looked just like Ianto’s.

“Yeah – I guess that might come in useful.”

“If you’re taking Owen, I’m going as well,” stated Gwen, adamantly.

“What about me?” Tosh asked indignantly.

“You were on your way home, young lady!” Jack snapped at Tosh. “You’ve not stopped for a break for over twenty-four hours now.”

“But-”

“He’s right, Tosh.” Ianto spoke up loudly, calling attention to himself. He sighed and pointed at the screen above Tosh’s head. “And that thing is still moving, so I suggest you all stop arguing and just go after the damn thing. Jack, don’t be stubborn, take Owen and Gwen with you – just because you don’t want support, doesn’t mean you don’t need it. Tosh and I will monitor the situation and guide you from here.”

“Right,” Jack huffed as he grabbed his coat and shoved his arms into the sleeves angrily. “You might want to get a thicker coat, Gwen. I’ll see you by the service lift in one minute. If you’re not there I’m going without you.”

“Weapons?” Gwen called out from half way down the stairway.

“Don’t bother,” yelled Jack in reply. “Whatever we’re gonna need, it’s already on board.”

Gwen rushed off to get her all-weather jacket, anxious not to be left behind deliberately by Jack. 

“You ready then? ‘Man from Atlantis’?” Jack leered at Owen, who replied with a two-fingered hand gesture before leaving the office in pursuit of Gwen.

“Hey, take care.” Ianto reached out to grab hold of the sleeve of Jack’s coat. Pulling the older man closer to him, he made a show of straightening the lapels and brushing off invisible lint. “Try not to get killed, please.”

“I’ll be fine. You just look after yourself, OK?” Jack tilted his head to make eye contact with Ianto.

“I’ll try not to fall over the mess in your office and break my neck,” joked Ianto, in an attempt to erase the worry that clouded Jack’s face.

Jack smiled, leaned forward to kiss Ianto on the mouth before he could object and then ruffled his hair affectionately. But the grin that followed was a false one, the steely look in his eyes betraying his true feelings as he left the office shouting for Owen.

“C’mon, Owen, we’re going fishing!”


	25. Chapter 25

Tosh and Ianto had stayed in Jack’s office rather than decamp down to the main area of the Hub. Ianto had retrieved the pastries that Gwen had brought in with her and poured fresh cups of coffee for each of them.

“I thought Owen said you couldn’t have coffee?”

“Yeah – and Jack said you should go home and sleep as you’d been up all night.”

Ianto smiled at Tosh as she raised her mug to him.

“Well we do need to be awake and alert, don’t we?” Tosh winked conspiratorially.

“Yep – especially as Jack’s taking a ridiculously over-powered speedboat out into the Bay just as it’s filling up with pleasure boats, not to mention the occasional tall ship.”

“Oh yes – it’s the Cardiff Harbour Festival this week isn’t it?” Tosh’s eyes lit up. “I’d almost forgotten.”

“So, the marquees popping up all over the Plas didn’t clue you in?” Ianto teased. “Or the decorations plastered to the water tower?”

“I’ve had my mind on other things.” Tosh fixed Ianto with the sort of glare she usually set aside for Jack. “Like psychopathic blowfish and an apparently masochistic friend who seems hell bent on getting himself killed.”

“Oh.” Ianto looked suitably chastised. He should have realised that Tosh would have been worried about him. Looking suitably chastised, he looked over Tosh’s shoulder and pointed at the monitor. “So… um… how are they doing then? Are they catching up with the signal?”

“Seems like they’ve got a fix on it – but they’re not following it directly. Must be Jack behind the wheel – they’re weaving in and out of other traffic, but gradually closing in on the coral.”

“That makes sense, might buy them some time before they got spotted.”

“You think the blowfish will know they’re being followed?”

“It’s their territory, Tosh. If Jack’s estimation is correct, they’ve had a couple of hundred years to hide their position and avoid detection.”

Ianto shrugged as he put his empty cup back on the tray on Jack’s desk. He found himself reaching out to touch the coral without thinking and frowned as he felt a tingling sensation in his fingertips as he gently stroked the rough textured surface, surprised to find it warm to the touch.

“What if it’s a trap?”

“What?” asked Ianto startled by Tosh’s suggestion. “A trap? But why? It doesn’t make sense.”

“None of this makes sense, Ianto. That’s what’s been bothering me.” Tosh took her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose, tired despite the caffeine boost. “The attack on the Tourist Office entrance, your kidnap, asking you to steal the coral from Jack, threatening your family. There’s no pattern to this.”

“I see what you mean. It’s like lots of pieces to the picture, but none of them fitting together – no demands made.”

“Yet – no demands, yet. It’s like we’ve been led on a wild goose chase. She’s been toying with us, getting us to react. Testing us-”

“Playing with us … I know what you mean. I spent enough time in her company to know that she’s cruel, but not stupid. She’s up to something. Call Jack – we’ve got to warn them that they could be heading into a trap.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Yes, Tosh, it had crossed my mind.” Jack stated tersely. He figured that she really must have been exhausted not to have figured that out any earlier. As for Ianto not working it out, that just confirmed Jack’s suspicions that he was far from well. “That’s why I didn’t want company. But it’s OK because I’m sending them back now.”

“What’s Tosh got?” demanded Owen.

“She says we could be heading into a trap.” Jack grinned as he brought the Sea Queen to an abrupt halt in open water. “That’s why you’re going to take Gwen back to shore.”

“And what do you intend to do? Swim?”

“Life boat.” Jack shrugged. “It’s got GPS. Tosh can guide me in-”

“Stop talking bollocks, Harkness. You said that any weapons we’ll need are on this boat – right? Don’t tell me you’re going to transfer them all onto a rubber dinghy?”

“Jack?” Gwen yelled out from the cabin. “Tosh just called me. She’s been studying the specs and said there’s a remote submarine robot camera. She suggests we weigh anchor and send that out to follow the signal.”

“There you go, Jack.” Owen slapped Jack on the back. “Trust Tosh, the woman’s a bloody genius, even with severe sleep deprivation.”

Jack scowled unhappily. He had a very bad feeling about this whole business. His left ear lobe was itching, always a reliable sign that he was being conned. His instincts were screaming out to him that something was badly amiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well? What did she say?” Ianto asked anxiously. As soon as Tosh had sworn in Japanese about Jack, he’d prompted her to call Gwen.

“She said she’ll tell Jack. How did you know he’d try to go it alone?”

“It’s what he does. Let’s us think we’re all in it together and then does something heroic that usually ends up killing him.”

“Of course.” Tosh sighed, wondering how on earth Ianto put up with Jack’s selfless sacrifices, and then realised that he was just as bad himself. “Anyway, if they deploy the remote underwater vehicle, I’ll be able to analyse the data stream it transmits back to the Sea Queen.”

“You’ve already hacked into it haven’t you?” Ianto looked at Tosh in awe.

“I was working on it as soon as I saw the specs. What do you take me for, Ianto?”

“An evil genius, Tosh and I really hope I never get on your wrong side.”

“Then you’d better try harder to stay in one piece hadn’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So – shall we transmit any information we gather back to the Hub, or do you think Tosh has already intercepted it?”

“Really, Owen and I thought you were getting to know her better.” Jack winked lewdly.

“What’s all this?”

Gwen caught the end of the exchange between the two men as she’d returned from the compact bathroom. She hadn’t had chance to go to the loo before setting off and the splashing of waves around the hull of the Sea Queen had reminded her that her bladder was full. If she’d thought the cabin with bed and toilet had been an extravagance beforehand, she’d changed her mind.

“Owen – what does Jack mean? You and Tosh? But I thought -”

“Gwen love, you may be under the impression that you’re the only one who gets any between the sheets action and pity the rest of us poor sods, but you’re not.” Owen pressed a finger to Gwen’s lips stopping her before she said something they’d all regret. “Live with it.”

“Jack?” Gwen looked to Jack for support. She was horrified at the idea of Owen and Tosh being involved in some sort of physical relationship. She wondered what they did, how they did it … and whether or not it made Tosh technically a necrophiliac.

“Whatever goes on between consenting adults is fine by me, Gwen. Even the not-dead.” Jack suppressed a grin that was threatening to break out. He’d never thought of Gwen as being quite so prudish. “And you shouldn’t ask about other people’s sex lives unless you want to join in or share. I bet there’s plenty of Rhys to go around – how about it?”

“Don’t even think it! Keep my husband out of your filthy thoughts.”

“Oi – you two, quit fighting over Gwen’s hunk of a hubby and look here – the ROV’s got something!” Owen stabbed a finger at the read-outs on the onboard computer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Look, Ianto! It’s found something. Sonar is picking up something beneath the sea bed and the signal is heading straight for it.”

“What’s that on the camera? It almost looks like a dolphin, but there’s no tail.” Ianto was staring at the pale, streamlined object that was just visible in the murky water. Jack had not enabled the lights on the ROV, not wanting it to be detected too soon.

“Oh yes. Hang on, it’s metallic.” Tosh frowned as she interpreted the stream of data she was downloading from the ROV. “Not big enough to be manned.”

“So we’ve got an unmanned vessel following another unmanned, or should I say un-fished, vessel?”

“Yes … this isn’t good is it?”

“Can you detect what’s inside it?”

“No – but it’s turning. Oh my god – it’s heading straight for the Sea Queen!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Jack – it’s a fucking torpedo!”

“Yes and it’s heading straight for us – quick – get to the life boat!”

“Jack?”

“Not now, Gwen – just run!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Ianto and Tosh looked on in horror as the object containing their tracker seemed to lock in on the signal between Torchwood’s ROV and the Sea Queen, they heard sounds coming from the level below the office. A door slamming shut and footsteps on the metal grating.

“What the hell- ?” Tosh spun round automatically.

Ianto quickly clamped his hand over Tosh’s mouth and indicated that they should both drop to the floor so they couldn’t be seen.

“Office boy?” a female voice called out. “Come on out, I know you’re still in here.”

Ianto’s blood ran cold. He’d recognise that voice anywhere. It was Volitana. He panicked, wondering how the hell had she got inside without setting off alarms.

“They left you all alone didn’t they?” Volitana’s voice echoed around the Hub. “I’m surprised they trusted you in here by yourself. But you told them, didn’t you? It’s alright. I know the coral was a fake. I’m not going to punish you. Not for that anyway.”

Ianto pulled Tosh across the floor towards the open hatchway that led down into Jack’s sleeping quarters.

“Go down there.” Ianto urgently whispered. “You can lock yourself in and they won’t get their hands on you.”

“What about you?” Tosh demanded angrily.

“She knows I’m here,” hissed Ianto. “But she doesn’t know that you are – I can’t let her capture you as well.”

“Come out, come out wherever you are. I promise I won’t bite… hard that is.” Volitana’s voice rang out, sounding closer than before. “Don’t keep me waiting. You don’t want to make me cross now, do you?”

Tosh sat down on the edge of the hatchway and swung her legs onto the rungs of the ladder.

“Ianto – promise me you’ll not do anything stupid!” Tosh grabbed hold of Ianto’s hand in a tight grip as she pleaded with him.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do. Now go!”

Ianto leaned down to kiss Tosh on the cheek. The brief touch of his lips on her skin felt ominously like ‘goodbye’. She took off her shoes and threw them onto the mattress below, before making her way down a few rungs of the ladder. The last sight she had of Ianto was as he gently lowered the cover. As he did so, she could see the electronic locking device that would keep her safe.

“Take care,” whispered Tosh, not knowing whether Ianto heard her.

Once she’d locked herself in, Tosh sat down on the edge of the bed, not making a sound. It struck her that the room was probably soundproofed as she couldn’t hear anything from above. She shuddered as she wondered what was happening to Ianto. She was angry with herself – feeling that she should have either stayed with him or forced him to hide as well. Jack would never forgive her if anything happened to Ianto. Then it hit her – she had no idea what was going on out in the Bristol Channel. She’d been about to contact Jack just as they’d heard the sound of the intruders.

Jack had been deliberately lured out of the Hub. Whether it had been the real coral that Ianto had handed over or a fake one, it didn’t matter, just as it didn’t matter if Ianto had told Torchwood what he was doing or not. It had been an elaborate red herring and it had worked. The blowfish had got what she’d wanted all along.

The Hub.


	26. Chapter 26

Gwen glared at Owen as they sat in the life boat.

“Why didn’t you wait for Jack?”

“He ordered me to make sure you survived!”

“What the hell’s going on, Owen?”

“It was a fucking trap.”

They both turned their gazes to the murky horizon, where they’d last caught sight of the Sea Queen as Jack had set off towards the Irish Sea, leading the torpedo out of the busy waters of the Bristol Channel.

“What should we do?”

“Head for land seems the best bet. Look see if there are any flares in that compartment – maybe we can get rescued.”

“Shit! We need to let Ianto and Tosh know what happened!”

“I imagine they already know – Tosh would have been tracking the Sea Queen.”

“I’ll try to call them anyway.”

Gwen tapped impatiently on the comm. device that had miraculously stayed in place when Owen had shoved her into the inflatable dinghy. 

“Nothing – nobody’s answering.” 

“Maybe they’re busy?”

“No – it’s dead. I’m not getting anything.”

“Perhaps your earpiece is bust?”

Gwen tested Owen’s theory by switching the channel to communicate with his earpiece. It worked perfectly.

“That’s not good is it, Owen?” 

“No shit Sherlock, Jack’s heading for the ocean with a torpedo on his tail, there’s no answer from Tosh or Ianto and we’re stuck out at sea in a rubber boat.” Owen spat out angrily. “I’d hazard a guess that we’re screwed.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tosh sat down on the edge of Jack’s bed. By the appearance of the neatly tucked in blankets and smooth pillow case, it hadn’t been slept in for a while. There was a soft glow from a light set into the ceiling which illuminated the small space. Looking around, she spotted a simple chest of drawers in one corner, a door which appeared to lead to a compact en suite facility, a wardrobe built into one wall and there, tucked away in the furthest corner, a wall-mounted monitor with a shelf below on which sat a small keyboard. There was a message flashing on the screen – she stifled a nervous chuckle as it came to her that it was almost like the welcome message on the TV screen that greeted customers at smart hotels. She quickly made her way to the screen and read the message. It was from Ianto.

“Password to secure mainframe access is Jack’s favourite pizza topping. Warn others. Don’t come out until all-clear given. Food and water in mini fridge. I.”

There was no indication what he was going to do and that worried Tosh. But her priority was to get in touch with Jack and the others to let them know about the intruders. She accessed the tracking monitor and was shocked to see the zigzag course the Sea Queen was taking out towards the Irish Sea. Then she locked onto the smaller signal that was pursuing the Torchwood vessel and swore under her breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack spun the wheel to starboard sharply, then held onto it tightly as the sea came up to slap the hull of the Sea Queen as if attempting to bat it out of the water. He needed to avoid the shipping lanes, the last thing he needed was to crash into one of the P&O car ferries on its way across the Irish Sea to Cork.

The sound of the waves hitting the sides of the Sea Queen almost drowned out the persistent buzzing in his ear, but it wasn’t going away. Wresting a hand from the wheel he reached up to activate his earpiece and his heart stopped in his chest as he listened to Tosh’s urgent warning. 

“Tosh? Where are you?” 

Jack breathed a sigh of relief as he heard that she was safely locked in his quarters, before asking the next question that came to mind. 

“Is Ianto with you?” 

Tosh’s answer infuriated him. He had to think fast – his original plan to sacrifice himself and the Sea Queen was no longer an option. He had to get back to the Hub.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto muttered angrily to himself as his bandaged fingers prevented him from typing in commands as quickly as he needed to. He locked down both the vaults and the archives, and then cut the lights to all the lower levels. He realised there was no point in using the infra-red cameras to detect life signs as the blowfish weren’t exactly warm-blooded. The armoury was high on his list of priorities – he couldn’t allow Volitana to get hold of what was held in there. 

Yells from the bottom of the metal walkway suggested that he’d managed to separate at least one of the blowfish from the rest of its ‘shoal’. He suppressed an almost hysterical laugh that crept up his throat. He could hear the sound of heels on the metal treads of the stairs. His fingers twitched nervously as if recalling those heels stamping on his hands. 

“That was a very stupid thing to do, Office Boy – you should know better than to antagonise me.”

Ianto’s hands trembled as he committed his last instruction to the automated systems and then keyed in the final commands to shut down access to the mainframe. Looking over his shoulder he caught sight of the forward edge of black satin and lace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack locked the steering in a straight course so that he could leave the controls long enough to extract a flattened, oval device from a chest inside the cabin and throw it into the wake left behind by the Sea Queen. Pulling back the cover on his wrist strap he quickly pressed several buttons in quick succession and then threw himself to the deck, hoping for the best. He’d never tried out the alien device in Earth waters, but he was familiar with its mode of action and a quick check on the instrumentation on the Sea Queen confirmed that there was no shipping in the near vicinity. 

As the sleek black device slowly sunk under the waves, it opened up and unfolded again and again, expanding as the sea water reacted with the contents, taking on the appearance of a streamlined jellyfish, with long trailing tentacles that wafted in the water. It appeared almost benign as it drifted in the current, fragile even. However, as soon as the torpedo came within its range the tentacles lashed out and gripped hold of the sides of the missile, spinning it around and around in a rapid spiral. The sudden deceleration triggered the explosive charge within the torpedo and there was an enormous explosion, sending out massive waves in all directions. 

Jack clung to the railing on the side of the cabin to the Sea Queen, as the waves rose up and over the decks, flooding the cabin and washing away anything that wasn’t strapped down. He was soaked to the skin and shivering by the time the waves eventually subsided. But at least both he and the Sea Queen were in one piece. He was a long way out from the Welsh coastline and from what Tosh had said he didn’t have time to spare getting changed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto pulled himself from one rung to the next, ignoring the shooting pains in his shoulder and the twinges in his ankle as he put all of his weight on it to push away and on to the next rung of the ladder that was fixed to the wall of Jack’s office. He knew that he was unlikely to make it to freedom without being spotted, but he needed to draw Volitana’s attention away from the hatch to Jack’s quarters. He was counting on his apparent attempt to escape her clutches to distract her from what else was going on in the Hub. He only hoped that Tosh had understood his message and had got through to Jack and the others. 

Any further thoughts of Tosh and any hope of rescue were rapidly dispelled from Ianto’s mind as a grip like iron encircled his still-recovering ankle. He screamed out in agony as sharp nails dug into the thin flesh.

“Let go, now, before I have my associates drag you out from there!” shrieked Volitana, her voice bearing none of its husky tones; she was angry and had no intention of being made a fool of. 

Ianto weighed up the odds and wondered what it would cost him to kick her in the face as one last gesture of defiance. He could feel her talon-like nails breaking the skin and the warm wet sensation of blood flowing freely from the wounds inflicted. It occurred to him that he’d never seen Volitana without gloves and now he knew why – she was armed with claws. He leaned into the ladder, resting his head on a patch of brick wall between the wooden rungs. He had the urge to shut his eyes, just for a short while, for some reason he was feeling incredibly sleepy. He fought the impulse to just relax his grip on the ladder, but his limbs were feeling heavier and less responsive. First one hand and then the other came away from the ladder and before he knew it, Ianto had collapsed onto the floor of Jack’s office. 

Volitana was staring down at him, idly licking the tips of her claws which were tinged with red. Ianto was right, she had drawn blood. He thought about sitting up, but found that he couldn’t move.

“Muscle relaxant.” 

Volitana took a seat on Jack’s chair and laughed cruelly as she watched Ianto’s eyes widen in horror. 

“Don’t panic, it only affects skeletal muscle. Your heart won’t stop and your diaphragm will keep contracting – so you can still breathe. That’s until I decide otherwise.”

Ianto tried to speak, but he couldn’t open his mouth. She had him completely at her mercy. 

“I know you’ve shut down part of the Torchwood base. But I’ve waited over a hundred years for this, I can wait a little longer until I have full control of the facilities.” Volitana dragged a talon over the glowing coral on the desk and smirked as its light dulled and its song faded away. “And you will help me. But for now, you owe me some entertainment.”


	27. Chapter 27

“What the hell’s going on, Jack?”

Gwen was shivering, despite the towels and blankets wrapped around her. They were soaked through. As the Sea Queen had pulled up alongside them, she had followed Owen in abandoning their flimsy rubber dinghy and swimming back to the bigger vessel. The fact that the Sea Queen was already moving as soon as Gwen put her feet on the deck had implied that Jack was in a hurry.

Owen, unencumbered by the cold and in no danger of developing hypothermia, had dashed over to where Jack stood by the wheel.

“You’re wet – been for a swim?” asked Owen, eying the sopping wet greatcoat suspiciously.

“Jack!” Gwen pointed at the fast approaching shore. “We’re heading back for Cardiff – please tell me that bloody torpedo is not still following us.”

“Got rid of that out in the Irish Sea. My coat got wet when it blew up in the water,” snarled Jack, as he kept his eyes fixed on his destination. 

“What’s the hurry, Jack?” demanded Owen.

“Got a call from Tosh.” 

Jack glanced across to where Gwen sat huddled on the deck. He was relieved that at least she was still alive and that Owen hadn’t been blown to smithereens, even though he was worried sick about Tosh and Ianto. 

“She called from a secure line, the one in my room under the office.”

“What the fuck is she doing in there?” asked Owen.

“Ianto told her to lock herself in there for safety,” explained Jack, unable to keep the anger from his voice. He couldn’t help wondering what the hell Ianto was thinking and why hadn’t he gone into hiding with Tosh.

“Safety from what? Jack?” Gwen prompted, scrambling to her feet and holding onto Owen as the boat dipped up and down pushing its way through the waves.

“Blowfish – they’re in the Hub.”

“What? Blowfish?”

“Yes. They must have been waiting for us to head off. All they had to do was use the channel through the cliffs.”

“Fuck – that means we can’t go back in that way. They’ll be waiting for us.”

Jack turned briefly to meet Owen’s eyes. He was right. If Volitana knew that her plan to blow up the Sea Queen had failed, she’d have blowfish waiting in the boat house for their return. However, if she didn’t know that they’d survived the trap, they’d lose the advantage of surprise if they went back into Cardiff Bay in the Sea Queen. 

Meanwhile, he had no idea what was happening to Ianto.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Volitana had commandeered Jack’s office and was watching on with undisguised delight as Ianto was tied to the ladder that she’d not long since dragged him away from. He’d been unable to resist as his limp body had been unceremoniously hauled off the floor and tied by the wrists and ankles to the ladder rungs. He was unable to hold his head up, so his chin was digging into his chest and although he couldn’t lift his head to see what Volitana was doing, he could hear her.

“Perfect. Just the type of decoration I like – the interactive sort that I can play with if I get bored.”

Ianto was able to glance in the direction of the hatch leading to the sleeping quarters below and hoped that Tosh would stay put. He could deal with whatever the blowfish did to him, but if they got hold of Tosh, he’d never forgive himself for not doing a better job of protecting her.

As soon as Ianto was secured, Volitana dismissed her minions, giving them orders in their own tongue. Although Ianto couldn’t understand what she was telling them, the tone of her voice was impatient – no doubt frustrated at only having limited access to the Torchwood Hub. 

The rustle of her skirts was all the warning that Ianto got before she was pushing him further back onto the hard rungs that dug into his back. She used one hand to lift his chin up so that she look him in the eye, watching for a reaction as she trailed the other hand down his chest heading south, her intentions obvious.

Ianto glared at her defiantly, narrowing his eyes as much as he could. He may not have been able to speak, but he tried his best to convey, in one contemptuous look, that he had no fear of her. She could do what she damn well wanted with him. He’d done his best to secure the Hub. Tosh was safe and hopefully she’d have warned the others.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been Gwen’s idea in the end, and Jack had reluctantly accepted that there was merit to it. Rather than storm into Cardiff Bay, they’d be better off hiding amidst the flotilla of boats that were queuing up to enter the Bay for the Harbour Fair through one of the big sea locks. With the boats close to each other in the lock, it was easy to split up, Gwen gingerly clambering aboard a small yacht and Owen onto a small motorboat. The plan was that Jack would then steer the Sea Queen towards the main harbour where there were many vessels clustered together. Once ashore they would all take different routes, but meet up in the Torchwood garage. Although it would take more time than taking the direct route back to the boat house, there was more chance of at least one of them getting back to the Hub without being observed. 

Whilst they’d been slowly moving through the lock, Jack had taken each of them into the cabin one at a time to dole out weapons that would assist them in their bid to liberate the Hub and free Ianto and Tosh. Once their plan was finalised, Jack called Tosh on the secure line. She was able to let him know which parts of the Hub had been closed off by Ianto before he’d been captured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tosh had not been wasting her time in Jack’s sleeping quarters. She had access to the mainframe while the blowfish had not been able to get the computers back online in the rest of the Hub. She was treading carefully, making sure not to do anything that would alert the blowfish to the fact that there was someone else in the Hub. 

She was glad that Jack hadn’t asked for details about what had happened to Ianto. He’d asked quietly if they’d killed Ianto and was relieved when Tosh had been able to reassure him that he was still alive. She had heard the unspoken promise that he would make them pay if they’d hurt Ianto. Tosh had been able to see some of what was going on, using the CCTV located around the Hub, but couldn’t move the cameras without drawing attention to them. She’d seen Volitana enter Jack’s office and then had seen the other blowfish swarm into the office and grab hold of Ianto before tying him up to the ladder against the wall. It had been as she was anxiously watching Volitana advance on Ianto when Jack had called. 

As soon as she carried out Jack’s instructions, she focused on finding some way of distracting Volitana from her assault on Ianto. Then she found the answer and smiled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As Volitana’s sharp nails scraped along the zip of Ianto’s jeans, she was rudely disturbed from tormenting her prey by a series of screams that resonated throughout the Hub. She had no choice but to abandon her plaything and investigate. 

“Don’t go anywhere, Office Boy, I’ll be back.” 

There were blowfish running to and fro on the level below her – scrambling for cover and shooting upwards, their bullets ricocheting off the metal scaffolding and pinging dangerously close to where she stood, one narrowly missing the fin crest on top of her head. She commanded them to stop shooting and then looked up to see what they were trying to hit. High above her, she caught sight of a large winged silhouette as it landed on an inaccessible ledge, holding something in its clawed feet, something that writhed and screamed. The beast tightened its grip on its prey and then stabbed at it with its long, pointed snout.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unlike pterodactyls, she had no teeth, but the pteranodon’s beak was heavy and sharp and she wasted no time in tearing apart the unexpected treat. She associated her food with the scent of fish and although the creature she’d just caught walked on its hind legs, like those she shared her cave with, it smelt like dinner. There had been one occasion in the past when she’d been confused by a two-legged creature that smelt of fish, but that one had been encased in metal and tasted wrong. She’d been conflicted then – one of her creatures had been encouraging her to eat it whilst another one had been begging her not to; afterwards she considered that he’d been trying to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt and it was then that she decided he was her favourite. But neither of them were around to stop her from eating this one, which was good as its flesh was tasty, once she’d stripped away the fabric covering.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As pieces of cloth, dripping with dark blood and containing discarded fragments of red fins fell through the air to land on the metal railings and desks in the main area of the Hub, Volitana faced a revolt. Her people had scattered and refused to come out from their hiding places, terrified of the beast that reminded them of an ancient enemy described in tales passed down from one generation to another. A beast that had large leathery wings and sharp, clawed feet that legend described as swooping down from above to massacre their people when they first attempted to colonise the land. If there was one thing they were more afraid of than Volitana, it was that myth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, in the office above Tosh’s hiding place, Ianto was straining to lift his head to see what was happening. He suppressed a groan as his aching muscles finally responded to his will. His fingers twitched as muscles flexed and he started to figure out the knots in the rope. It wasn’t as if it was the first time he’d been tied to this particular ladder and he was relieved to discover that Jack’s knots were a lot more challenging than those of the blowfish.


	28. Chapter 28

Gwen clutched the bag of grenades tight to her chest as she thanked the ruddy-cheeked couple profusely for letting her hitch a lift on their yacht. The man, Fred he'd insisted she call him, insisted on her waiting for him to tie up properly before gallantly holding out a hand to help her ashore. Looking around the crowded marina, Gwen shook hands with her hosts, resisting their attempts to persuade her to have 'a spot of lunch' with them in the nearest pub.

"No, really, I need to find Evan, my husband now. I do hope I’ve not lost him, always wandering off that one."

Gwen had told them that she'd spent longer out at sea with her friends than she'd meant to and that her husband didn't really approve of them and their fancy boat. It wasn't that far from the truth and Fred's wife had given her a sympathetic look.

"Are you sure now?"

"Yes, really and thanks for the loan of the clothes," said Gwen as she pulled the bright yellow hood up to cover her hair. "I'll make sure you get them back later today."

It had started to rain heavily as they'd got closer to the quayside and Gwen's waterlogged clothes had prompted questions from her hosts. She explained that she'd fallen overboard when one of her friends had been showing off with fancy manoeuvres. They'd then insisted she take a thick woollen sweater, some waterproof trousers and a brightly coloured waterproof cagoule. Gwen had initially been reluctant to take advantage of the offer, but then it occurred to her that wearing a bulky jumper and hooded jacket she'd be better disguised as she made her way through the crowds flocking Mermaid Quay.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Having transferred from the motorboat onto one of the water buses, Owen came ashore at the bus stop near the St David's Hotel. With his collar up and his head down, he managed to scoot into the hotel lobby unseen under a cluster of umbrellas that had been put up hastily as the showers became heavier. He headed straight for the service elevator at the back and once inside, popped open a barely visible panel at eye level, waited for a retina scan and then pressed the button that would take him down to the lower levels, where he could access a secret tunnel leading to the Torchwood garage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack did not bother with any attempt at subterfuge and steered the Sea Queen straight into the channel that led to the Torchwood boathouse. He'd waited until he'd heard back from Gwen and Owen, confirming that they'd made it to shore safely, before informing them of the change in plan. It wasn't really a change, as it had been his original intention all along, it was just that he'd known that neither of them would have agreed to leave him on his own if they'd known. Naturally Gwen yelled at him and Owen cursed him – it was only what he expected.

He figured that the Sea Queen would have been under surveillance and therefore there was no point in hiding. He grinned toothily as he spied the 'welcome committee' awaiting his arrival, four blowfish armed to the gills.

"Hands up!"

"Sure," Jack continued smiling as he obliged his captors by raising his hands above his head.

Two of the blowfish kept their guns aimed at Jack, whilst the other two warily boarded the Sea Queen and searched the vessel.

"Where are the others?"

"I dropped them off in a life boat when your little surprise homed in on us."

"You obviously managed to escape – how?"

"What can I say? I'm difficult to get rid of. Now how about you guys take me to your leader?" Jack waggled his eyebrows at the nearest blowfish, deliberately baiting him. "I'm dying to see her again – it's been a while."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From Jack's quarters Tosh monitored what was going on throughout the Hub. She'd overridden the lockdown that Ianto had put in place to allow Owen and Gwen access as instructed by Jack. Although there was no camera coverage of the boathouse, she'd managed to track the Sea Queen and was aware of the precise moment when Jack had returned. The fact that she was now the lynchpin upon which the success of the rescue bid rested would have made a lesser person nervous, but, for Tosh, the pressure made her all the more determined, more focused.

She'd spotted the twitching of Ianto's fingers that had ceased the moment Volitana had stormed back into Jack's office. She could see from the angle of the camera that he was holding the ropes in position and that the knots were no longer securing him in place. Tosh allowed herself a relieved smile, she knew from experience that Ianto would be ready for action and that he was playing for time, letting the female Blowfish believe that he was still completely helpless.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ianto stilled his hands when he caught sight of the black skirts of Volitana as she returned to taunt him some more.

"What the hell is that thing? What is that unholy beast you have here?" she screamed at Ianto, furious that he was unable to answer her. She swung her arm back and slapped him hard about the face.

Ianto saw the blow coming and could have resisted its impact, but that would have given him away, so he let his head snap to one side painfully. He hoped that Myfanwy was safe but the sounds he'd heard seemed to suggest that she'd won the first round. Amidst the screams and shouts, it sounded as if the blowfish were far more rattled than he'd have expected.

"It killed one of us!" Volitana spat in Ianto's face. "It tore him to pieces and ate him!"

Struggling not to let his reactions show on his face, Ianto was intrigued. He would never have thought that Volitana, sadistic bitch that she was, would be spooked by anything, let alone his pet pteranodon. He pledged that if he got out of his current predicament he'd reward her with whole sides of salmon and the really expensive dark chocolate that he usually reserved for special evenings in with Jack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gwen walked amidst the crowds in Mermaid Quay and tagged onto a family group that were going into Tesco's. She grabbed a chicken salad sandwich and paid for it and a large carrier bag with a ten-pound note. As she left the store, Gwen pocketed the change and discreetly transferred her bag of grenades into the Tesco bag, after all it was a lot less conspicuous than the bulky bag of weaponry that Jack had thrust into her arms before sending her off with strict instructions on what to do. A quick glance at her watch showed she had a minute or two still to spare, so she took shelter under the awning of a coffee shop and quickly called Rhys' mobile.

"Hello, love, it's me… no, I haven't got time to tell you … Rhys! Just listen – for now I just want you to stay at Rhiannon's house … What?! Bloody hell, you and Andy were meant to keep – what d'you mean he had to go to work? … So, where have they gone then? The harbour fair? Oh shit … Ianto's going to kill me, if he's still in one piece that is… long story, no time … yes, I know that's what I always say … where are you? What? You could have just told me that to begin with - right, I want you to get them all off the Plass, take them to Harry Ramsden's and buy them all fish and chips. Just stay there until you hear back from me, got that? … I'll make it up to you, I promise. Love you too."

Realising that she'd taken more time than she'd meant to, Gwen quickly threaded her way through the throngs of visitors to the ramp that led down to the side of the Tourist Information Office. It still made her shudder, memories of being thrown to the floor by the force of the explosion that had torn it apart and then pressing her hands to the heated metal blast door, convinced that Ianto had been killed and that there was nothing she could do.

Jack hadn't had the heart to make arrangements for repairing the damage – it would have been Ianto's job anyway – but he had got the council to fence off the area. It had been Tosh's idea to get the boards decorated with scenes of people walking along the quayside and to then install a perception filter. Gwen stood still for a while until she had blended in – even in her bright yellow cagoule - and then gently pushed the panel inwards, just enough to let her slip behind it.

She then turned around to face the hidden doorway with an electronic panel installed at head height. A handprint activated panel triggered a retina scan, and then, finally the door swung open to reveal the top of the emergency staircase. Tosh had insisted on having that access to the Hub re-established – sensibly arguing that no one would look for an entrance in the same place as one that had been located and apparently destroyed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There were still blood spatters on the floor of the central area of the Hub as Jack was pushed in front of the blowfish. He gasped involuntarily, he'd only asked Tosh if Ianto was still alive – not how badly he'd been hurt. However, on closer inspection he could tell from the darker colour, tinged with a bluish-green pigment, that it was not human blood. Glancing around, Jack saw other signs of violence – an overturned chair, a broken plate and there, on top of one of the computer monitors, a piece of flayed skin, mottled red and scaly. He frowned, wondering what the hell had happened and then smiled as he heard the contented cawing sound from above, like that of a crow, but with an undulating trill all of its own – the sound that Ianto had once informed him was that of a sated pteranodon. Jack very much hoped he'd have the chance to gloat to Ianto that he'd been right all along, that she did make a great 'guard dog'.

The blowfish escorting him skirted around the perimeter of the open area, evidently concerned that there would be another attack from above. Once they reached the stairs that led upwards to the next level where his office was, it was left to just two of the blowfish to take him any further. One went on ahead whilst the other prodded a gun in his back propelling him forward quickly.

Jack made a note of how nervous they were in the central area of the Hub compared to how cocky they'd been as they'd shoved and pushed him all the way along the tunnels that led up from the boathouse. He was silently taking in all the factors that could play to his advantage when the time came. Catching the glint on the lens of one of the security cameras, Jack dared flash it a quick wink. If Tosh was watching, he wanted to let her know that, despite appearances, he was still in control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen glared at the blue and white striped plastic bag as Gwen entered the garage, puffing as if she'd been running.

"Please don't tell me you stopped off to go grocery shopping on the way to rescue Tosh and Ianto?"

"I was trying to keep my cover, if you must know."

"In that?" Owen pointed at the bright yellow waterproof jacket.

"Ha, bloody ha – I'll leave it behind now." Gwen shucked the jacket and stuffed it into a cupboard.

"Right then, you ready now?"

"This is going to work isn't it?" Gwen frowned, looking anxious.

"Yeah, of course it is – when has Jack ever come up with a plan that doesn't work?"

"You being sarcastic?"

"What do you fucking think? Shall we?" Owen held out a hand to Gwen as if asking her to dance.

"What the hell – let's go for it then," Gwen smiled as she grasped Owen's hand. "What was it Jack said? Fish to fry?"


	29. Chapter 29

As Jack was unceremoniously shoved across the threshold into his own office he called out cheerily:

"Hi there gorgeous!"

"I wish I could say it was nice to see you as well, Captain." Volitana swept across the room towards Jack, her head down and her eyes blazing.

"I wasn't talking to you," snarled Jack, looking across to where Ianto was tied to the ladder. "Good to see you, Ianto. I see we've got another infestation in the Hub – time to fumigate again, what d'ya think?"

"He can't talk right now, Captain. He's rather incapacitated."

Volitana smile as she raised a fist and slowly uncurled it to reveal razor sharp claws.

"You really shouldn't have done that you know." Jack didn't hide the threat from his voice. "See, I'm the only one who gets to tie him up and get away with it."

Jack looked over Volitana's shoulder just in time to catch Ianto lift his head ever so slightly and roll his eyes. He knew he'd pay for that comment, but he didn't care, Ianto was no more incapacitated than he was a prisoner.

It was at that point that all hell broke loose. The centre of the Hub was suddenly filled with cries of agony amidst billowing thick, white smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Get on the floor – hands on your heads!" yelled Owen. "If I see anyone go for a gun, I'm goin' to shoot first and apologise after – got it?"

As Owen took point, not needing to worry about the smoke's effects on his lungs or eyes, Gwen scanned the area from behind him. She was wearing a face mask to filter the air and protect her eyes, but the scanner pinpointed the blowfish in the central area. They were rolling around on the floor gasping for breath and clawing at their eyes, and she was shocked to realise that she had absolutely no sympathy for them.

"There are six of them here, Owen, two more on the catwalk and one in Jack's office."

"Right, let's get these ones neutralised first."

Working together, taking it in turns to either disarm and cuff or hold a gun to the head of each blowfish, they quickly had them all rounded up, bound and gagged. Neither Gwen's compassionate nature nor Owen's inbuilt concern as a medical professional responded to the streaming eyes or hacking coughs of the creatures who had invaded their base.

Once the six blowfish were restrained, Gwen set down a small cylinder in the centre of the floor, peeled back the safety strip and pressed down the small red button. Within moments it was pumping out a counteragent to the gas from the grenades they'd previously hurled into the Hub, and the air began to clear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Jack heard the commotion on the lower level he waited until the blowfish guarding him were distracted before giving Ianto the signal. Then he launched himself at the door shutting it to keep the gas out of the office.

On Jack's signal, Ianto pulled his hands free from the loosened ropes and dropped down quickly to untie his ankles. Turning back from the door, Jack had spun around and levelled the nearest blowfish with a skull-rattling roundhouse punch to the head. Not waiting to see if it was going to get up again, he grabbed hold of its hand gun and fired a quick shot at the second of the blowfish guards, causing it to scream in agony as a bullet tore into its forearm, dropping his own firearm.

While Jack focused on the one he'd shot, the blowfish he'd punched had recovered enough to stretch out its hand to grab the fallen weapon that had skittered across the floor in his direction. Ianto staggered across from where he'd been tied to the ladder, his muscles still aching from the effects of the paralysing drug. He crouched down to pluck the gun from the fingers of the blowfish, before standing up and viciously kicking the downed fish in its side to keep it down. His weakened ankle gave way as his foot came into contact with the thickened and armoured hide of the blowfish.

"Oh shit, that hurt!"

"Hey there, you OK?" Jack asked, concerned as watched Ianto grab hold of the edge of the desk to steady himself.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Ianto forced a smile to reassure Jack, even though he could see straightaway that he'd failed abysmally.

Having concentrated on disarming the two 'hench-fish', neither man noticed Volitana silently moving to the other side of the desk. Stealthily, she pulled a long, thin bladed knife from a scabbard concealed amongst the folds of her skirt. She took hold of it by the handle and drew her arm back, her eyes focused on her target, the area between Ianto's shoulder blades.

"Drop it, bitch!"

Volitana wasn't the only one to spin around to see where the threat had come from.

Framed by the raised hatchway to Jack's quarters was Tosh, her feet braced on the ladder, her .45 calibre handgun held in two hands, aimed at the head of the blowfish matriarch.

"Oh, look who's here – the pretty little technician. I wondered where you were hiding."

"I said drop the knife or I'll shoot." Tosh repeated her warning, not moving a muscle.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Really?" asked Tosh, raising an eyebrow. She was pleased to see Ianto was relatively unharmed but alarmed to note that he'd turned around and was facing the blowfish.

"She means it," Ianto stated without blinking. The point of the knife hadn't wavered from its proposed trajectory. If Volitana threw it he'd have to duck quickly to avoid it embedding itself in his chest.

"But would she be quick enough?" taunted the blowfish, turning her head back to glare at Ianto.

"Surrender – you're outnumbered and you know it," growled Jack, holding the pistol in a white-knuckled grip. "You've blown holes in my base, tortured Ianto and threatened innocent people – give up now and maybe I won't fillet you."

"You might want to check who's holding the knife before making threats like that, Harkness," hissed Volitana.

"What's the point?" Jack demanded. He couldn't understand why Volitana was refusing to surrender. Surely she knew she'd lost? "As soon as you throw that knife you'll be shot dead where you stand."

"Maybe I don't care," replied Volitana, bitterly. "Maybe I've lived long enough hiding in the shadows, served by incompetent juveniles who'd rather get intoxicated on cheap drugs than obey my rules. Perhaps I've nothing to lose, while, if I'm reading this right, you're the one who'll be at a loss."

"You'd kill him, just out of spite?" Jack's voice betrayed his inner rage. There was nothing more dangerous than an armed opponent who didn't care if they lived or died.

"I'd do it for the split second I'd get the chance to see your world crumble, Captain."

"Why?" asked Ianto.

"Have you any idea of how many of my sons your beloved Captain has slaughtered or stood by as they were dissected by others?"

"That was before I was in charge! I-"

"What? Just following orders, Captain? That's a pathetic excuse, even for you. I may only be able to take one life that you value, but I shall relish it."

With a sharp flick of her wrist, Volitana let loose the gleaming knife at precisely the moment she saw Jack's finger tighten on the trigger. Simultaneously she flexed her sinuous spine, twisting her body to one side so that Jack's bullet merely ripped a hole through the black silk of her padded sleeves.

From her position at the top of the ladder emerging from the lower level sleeping quarters, Tosh's view of her colleagues was blocked. She couldn't see around the blowfish, partly because of the wide skirts she wore, but she heard Jack's scream and that was all she needed. Gripping her automatic tightly, she pumped bullets into the blowfish, not stopping until Volitana lay crumpled and unmoving on the floor of the office. As her target dropped to the ground, Tosh still couldn't see either Jack or Ianto and she automatically feared the worst.

What Tosh hadn't seen had been Jack virtually flying across the short distance between himself and Ianto, pushing him out of the path of certain death. The knife lodged its sharp point in the thick wool of Jack's coat and had then been dislodged, dropping to the ground having failed to taste blood.

"Jack? Ianto!" Tosh yelled out.

"Get down!" growled Jack from the other side of the desk, where he was shielding Ianto with his own body. He didn't trust Volitana to stay down and, out of the corner of his eye, he could see that her misbegotten offspring were beginning to stir.


	30. Chapter 30

Before Jack could issue any other orders, there was a crash as the door was kicked open. Owen and Gwen rushed in, quickly dispatching the two remaining blowfish, shooting to kill.

As the sound of gunfire in an enclosed space died down and the ringing in their ears retreated to bearable levels, the members of Torchwood settled for visually assessing each other for blood or other obvious injuries. They hardly dared believe they were still mostly unscathed. It was Jack who spoke first, once he’d retrieved his Webley from the pocket of a dead blowfish.

"Everyone OK?"

"Yeah."

"Uh huh."

"Yes, Jack."

"I will be when you get off me."

Realising that Ianto was still pinned beneath him, and not in the fun way, Jack quickly rolled to one side and sprung to his feet, holding out a hand to help Ianto up.

"Is she dead?" Gwen asked, pointing her gun at the heap of black satin and lace that lay motionless on the other side of the desk.

"I think so." Tosh shrugged as she walked slowly towards her victim.

"Stay back – let me check," stated Owen, gruffly.

"Ianto – are you alright?" Tosh asked, noting that he was gripping hold of Jack's coat and was leaning heavily on the older man.

The adrenaline that had kept Ianto going was taking its toll, he looked exhausted and it appeared that the only thing keeping him standing was Jack's arm around his shoulders.

"Think I need to sit down for a bit," admitted Ianto, reluctantly.

"Jack – pull over a chair and get him sat down before he keels over," ordered Owen, who had also ascertained that Ianto's state of health was still bad enough to be worried about.

"What about her?" Jack demanded, pointing at Volitana.

"Dead," confirmed Owen, grateful noticing that Jack was following his orders and settling Ianto onto the sofa.

Jack nodded brusquely as he as he shed his coat to wrap around the Ianto. He’d felt the younger man trembling and did not want him to go into shock after everything else he'd been through.

"Wait a minute," said Tosh, anxiously. "What's that in her dress – something's glowing purple."

"Don't touch anything!" warned Jack, springing back to his feet.

"What is it?" asked Gwen, crouching next to the lifeless body.

"Let me."

Jack motioned for Gwen to move over so that he could get closer. He used the barrel of his gun to lift the fabric out of the way so that he could access the pocket that held the glowing object.

"Communication device – looks like she missed a call."

"Maybe it was from one of her crew that we took care of below – perhaps they tried to send her a warning," suggested Gwen.

"I don't think so, the tear gas got them too fast for that." Owen shook his head, dismissing Gwen's theory.

"Tear gas?" asked Ianto, frowning in confusion.

"Yeah, we cleared the infestation with a few well aimed fumigation grenades."

"Are you saying that you smoked out the fish?" Ianto couldn't help smiling in response to Owen's grin.

Jack shook his head slightly as he focused on the problem at hand. He didn't want to bring down the mood of triumph amongst his team, but he could tell that the signal being received by Volitana’s communicator was current, every now and then the light stopped blinking and then moments later it started up again. Somewhere, someone was urgently trying to get in touch with the now deceased matriarch of the blowfish dynasty.

"What is it?" asked Ianto quietly.

"I guess you wouldn't believe me if I said nothing?"

"Nope."

"Didn't think so. Someone is trying to get through to her and I reckon that if they don't get an answer soon, they're gonna come looking."

"Oh."

"How many did you manage to neutralise, Owen?"

"Six of them tied up downstairs and those two."

"Tosh – find out how many more are out there."

"Hang on, Jack, I'll get the system back online and I'll check."

Tosh set about undoing the work that Ianto had done in disabling the Hub's computer system so that the blowfish couldn't access the mainframe.

"What if it's not from one of the blowfish here? What if it's from outside?" asked Gwen.

"That's what's bothering me." Jack sighed. "Although the whole thing with the coral was a red herring, there's still a base out there somewhere, with the capacity to send craft into the Bay undetected and-"

"Not just that – they can launch missiles at specific land-based targets," interrupted Ianto. "The Tourist Office was a warning – she told me there were other targets."

Jack moved to Ianto's side and put a hand on his shoulder, recalling just what the impact of that strike had been. He'd never forget the hollow feeling in his gut when he'd thought Ianto was dead. Feeling Ianto shift slightly under the grip of his hand gave him the reassurance that he hadn't lost him, not this time.

"Oh fuck – you don't think there's some dumb blowfish out there with its finger on the button, waiting for orders?" suggested a nervous-looking Owen.

"Maybe their orders are to attack if they don't hear back?" Tosh suggested.

"Either way we need to find them and take them out. Every single one them.” Jack stated bluntly. “They're too dangerous to tolerate any longer."

"What are you saying, Jack?" demanded Gwen, outrage colouring her voice. "You can't kill all of them – that would be a massacre!"

"They pose an unacceptable danger. They've threatened innocent people. Do you think they care about the families out there?" yelled Jack, pointing in no particular direction. He just wanted to make a point; one that he could tell Gwen was not prepared to accept. "What the hell do you suggest I do, Gwen? Take away their weapons and tell them to swim away and stay out of trouble?"

"Oi! You two can yell at each other later – meanwhile, I think we need to evacuate the whole area." Owen pointed at the images Tosh had accessed on the CCTV showing the Plass and the surrounding area thronging with people. "They've all turned up for the Harbour Fair. The Oval Basin is packed with stalls and visitors."

"That's not all – everywhere will be busy." Ianto stated. "The Millennium Centre, shops, pubs, restaurants-"

"Oh shit!" Gwen suddenly clamped her hand to her mouth

"What is it, Gwen?" Jack frowned, wondering what could possibly make the situation worse than it already was.

"Ianto's family."

"What about them?" demanded Ianto, so agitated that he leapt to his feet, letting Jack's coat fall from his shoulders and onto the floor. "What's happened to them?"

"Nothing's happened to them, love," said Gwen, in response, affecting her best soothing tone. However, that never had fooled Ianto and she could see that he knew she wasn't telling him everything. "But they are up there … in Mermaid Quay."

"What? Why?" Ianto threw his hands up in the air, totally outraged. "She knew what they looked like. They had pictures of them! Gwen, if anything happens to them-"

"It won't, Ianto, trust me." Gwen stepped forward, shrugging off Jack's hand on her arm, ignoring his unspoken warning. "They'd already arranged to come down for the fair. Rhys couldn't think of an excuse not to let them come – family outing and all."

"I don't believe this." Ianto shook his head in dismay.

"Hey there, we'll find them." Jack stepped in quickly, putting an arm around Ianto's shoulders whilst glaring at Gwen.

"It's fine, really, I know exactly where they are. I got Rhys to take them to Harry Ramsden's for lunch," Gwen explained, frustrated at the lack of confidence the others seemed to have in her. "They'll be perfectly safe over there, away from the all the main activities-"

"For fuck’s sake, Gwen!” interrupted Owen. “Are you really that stupid? If I was a psychopathic, sentient fish, I’d definitely target a fish'n'chip restaurant!"

"Not helping, Owen!" Gwen snapped.

"Right that does it." Ianto spun around and fixed Jack with a fiery glare. "I'm with you, Jack. We find their base – nest – whatever, and then we fillet each and every one of the bastards-"

"Ianto, you don't mean that!" Gwen reached out, wanting to calm down her colleague.

"Yes, I do!" Ianto shook off Gwen's hand angrily. "They blew up the Tourist Office while I was still inside it. I've been kidnapped, tortured, whipped bloody and poisoned by those damn fish. They've played with me, threatened my sister and her kids and invaded the Hub – if anything I think I'm being too fucking reasonable!"

"He's makes a good argument, Gwen, you've got to admit it." Owen was slightly taken aback by yet another emotional display from the normally restrained member of the team.

"There you go - even Owen agrees with me."

"Sit back down, please." Jack gently pushed Ianto back down on the sofa, not wanting to point out that he'd gone pale again and had started to sway. Once he was sure Ianto would stay where he was, he turned to Tosh, who had been focused on the computer monitors in front of her the whole time. "What have you got for me?"

Tosh smiled, pleased that Jack had noticed that she'd been busy figuring out a strategy.

"There are seven more blowfish in the base – five in the vaults, trapped behind the emergency lock down door, and two guarding the entrance to the tunnel leading to the boathouse."

"Their vessel still in the boathouse?"

"Yes. One blowfish standing guard."

"Good." Jack smiled broadly, flashing teeth.

"What are you thinking of?" asked Gwen, still unhappy with the idea of mass slaughter.

"What's the plan?" Owen asked, sensing that Jack had a solution to their problem that wouldn't necessarily go down well with all of the team.

"There's more than one way to get to the boathouse. I need a head start of ten minutes and then you let the blowfish in the vaults escape. I want them terrified, so scared they can't wait to get in their sub and head for home."

"How are we going to do that? Project scenes from 'Extreme Fishing' on the walls?" Owen facetiously suggested.

"Myfanwy," stated Ianto.

"What's that?" Jack prompted.

"The blowfish were petrified." Ianto avoided looking Jack in the eye. Images of Lisa's exposed flesh being savaged by the pteranodon still cropped up in his nightmares. "She attacked and killed one of them."

"Yeah, we saw the bits she spat out, ripped one of them to shreds-" Owen started to say until Tosh nudged him with her elbow, looking to Ianto pointedly.

"That's it – you guys need to get these bodies downstairs." Jack stepped over to the two blowfish that Gwen and Owen had shot. "Douse them with the special sauce that attracts Myfanwy to her food-"

"Won't she already be full – she's already eaten one?" Tosh interrupted.

"Even if she is – she loves fish, she'll take them up to her nest for later." Ianto explained.

Jack nodded gratefully and grabbed Ianto's hand to squeeze it gently. He could tell that this idea was trawling up unpleasant memories and he needed to convey to Ianto that he was aware of that and that he'd make it up to him later.

"I just need the other blowfish to see her attacking the bodies." Jack pointed emphatically in the direction of the pool of water around the base of the fountain. "If that's what they see when they get out of the vaults, it should be enough to persuade them to get the hell out of here."

"What then? What happens, Jack?" Gwen demanded. "You're going to let them just escape?"

"No, Gwen. I'm going to make sure that no blowfish ever step foot in Cardiff again."


	31. Chapter 31

"What do you mean by that? You can't possibly kill all of them-"

"Really? You underestimate me, Gwen. I'm going to plant an explosive device in their sub and as soon as they get back to their base I'm gonna detonate it."

"That's genocide!" spat Gwen.

Gwen was incensed. As far as she was concerned, it was one thing shooting to kill in self-defence or in order to protect others, but she couldn't accept the wholesale killing of entire populations, even if they were alien and hostile. She found it bad enough dealing with the weevils, but the blowfish were able to communicate in English and were obviously intelligent. Even though there was plenty of evidence that they were involved in criminal activity, she couldn't accept that was enough reason to impose a death sentence on every single blowfish.

"There are plenty more fish in the sea." Jack folded his arms across his chest and stuck his chin out, in full defiant mode. "In the galaxy for that matter."

"You can't-"

"Yes, I can. Watch me."

Neither Jack nor Gwen seemed to be aware of the glares they were receiving from the other members of the team, it was as if they weren't in the same room. It was Owen who decided to snap them out of their battle of wills.

"When you two have finished pouting at each other, there's work to do. Come on, Tosh – help me drag these downstairs, will you?" Owen tapped Tosh on the shoulder and pointed at the nearest dead blowfish. "Ianto, can you fetch that special sauce from the kitchen?"

"Yep." Ianto appreciated Owen giving him something to do. As he stood up, he could feel his ankle throbbing, but he was determined to take a stand. Wincing, he caught Jack's eye. "Ten minutes from now?"

Jack flexed his arm, checked his watch, grinned at Ianto and then, with a sidelong glance at Gwen, virtually bounced out of his office.

"Ten minutes and counting!"

And then he was gone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they'd got one of the blowfish down into the central hub area, Owen returned for the others, while Tosh helped Ianto down the stairs.

"Come on, Gwen, get your arse in gear and give us a hand with the rest of these!" Owen yelled out as he took hold of the feet of the second blowfish and dragged it onto the gangway outside the office.

Gwen was about to challenge Owen, ask why he was so willing to go ahead with Jack's plan, but she bit her tongue when she caught sight of the flashing light amidst the crumpled skirts of the female blowfish.

"Yeah, sorry, Owen, be right there – I'll get her" Gwen pointed at the body of Volitana.

"You want to hang on and wait for Tosh to give you a hand? I'll take this one on my own."

"No – it's fine, she's not as big as the others. Off you go, I'll follow when you've got that one out of the way."

As soon as Owen was out of sight, Gwen crouched down and went about pulling the black folds of silk straight, making sure they weren't snagged on anything. Then, without a second thought, she surreptitiously retrieved the compact communication device, palmed it and slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans as she stood up. Pulling the oversized jumper down over her backside to make sure no one could see the tell-tale light flashing on and off, she bent down, took hold of two handfuls of the dress, and dragged the blowfish out of the office and down to the lower level.

Whilst Gwen helped Owen arrange the dead blowfish in the centre of the Hub, Tosh stayed close to Ianto.

"Is that it then? What Jack calls barbecue sauce?"

"Yep." Ianto replied quickly, staring at the bottle of fish sauce and other special ingredients devised to entice the pteranodon to feed.

Tosh sighed, understanding just how tough this was for Ianto. She was annoyed with Gwen arguing with Jack over the rights of the blowfish while being apparently oblivious to the parallels that were playing out in Ianto's head. Tosh hadn't been there when Jack had liberally squirted the sauce at the Cyberwoman, encouraging the pteranodon, that everyone thought of as Ianto's pet, to attack the physical remains of the woman he'd loved. However, Owen had taken great pleasure in telling her all about it, in graphic detail, when Ianto had been suspended. Jack had been furious, especially when he discovered that Owen had pulled up the security camera footage and had made a video loop of it. The following day, Jack had deleted every last digital trace of the events of that day and issued a threat that if anyone mentioned it, he'd retcon the memories out of them.

"Oh, Ianto, I'm so sorry." Tosh didn't say anything else; any other words would be trite. She just gave her friend a hug and then took the bottle from his hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just the dead ones, Owen!" yelled Gwen. "I'm sure Jack didn't mean those ones as well."

Owen was dragging a struggling blowfish over to join its dead brethren.

"He didn't say not to." Owen dropped the blowfish to the metal floor and stood up.

"You can't!"

"Why not?" asked Owen shrugging.

"It's inhumane."

"They're not exactly human," came Owen’s sarcastic response.

"But we are!"

Before Owen could bite off a snide reply they were joined by Tosh and Ianto.

"Here's the barbecue sauce." Tosh threw the plastic bottle to Owen. "What's going on?"

"Owen wants to feed the prisoners to the pterodactyl!" whined Gwen.

"Pteranodon," muttered Ianto, with more than a hint of frustration. "Remind me not to let any of you feed her again."

Tosh quickly looked behind her to see Ianto leaning heavily against the wall. She could tell that he was bracing himself for yet more scenes that would be guaranteed to drag bad memories kicking and screaming their way back into his conscious thoughts. However harshly these aliens may have treated Ianto, there was no reason for him having to relive that particular nightmare.

"Gwen's got a point, Owen." Tosh reluctantly admitted. "We probably shouldn't confuse her with too many choices. Leave them by the door to the vaults and then come over to my desk – I've got an idea."

Owen was about to protest until he spotted the mischievous grin on Tosh's face, then he knew she had a plan and knowing her, it wouldn't disappoint him.

The blowfish that were tied and bound seemed to relax when they sensed they were being dragged away from the open area, although they kept looking upwards, fear etched on their crimson faces.

"Right, Tosh – what's the plan?" Owen whispered as soon as he was out of earshot of the blowfish.

"Leave them there, but remove their gags. Their screams will make sure we get the attention of the others. Then when I release the blowfish from the vaults they'll see and hear what's happening and either rescue these ones or run for their lives –"

"Or just shoot at the ptero- pteranodon," stated Gwen bluntly. She'd followed them, not trusting Owen not to sacrifice their live prisoners.

"She'll be fine as long as they don't aim for her wing membranes," reassured Ianto, recalling the time he'd captured her with Jack and the size of needle it had taken to puncture her skin. "She's thick-skinned. Besides they're terrified of her."

"OK then. That works for me," agreed Gwen, appeased that there would be a chance of the blowfish escaping, rather than being left in the open to be mercilessly attacked.

"Right – I'd better head back to Jack's office and release the vaults lockdown from there, we've only got two minutes left." Tosh brushed the fringe of hair out of her eyes and pointed at the dead blowfish. "Will you marinate them with sauce, Owen?"

"No, it's OK – I'll do that," volunteered Gwen, taking the bottle out of Owen's hand. "It's about time Owen checked Ianto out to make sure he's alright –"

"I'll be fine-" Ianto started to protest.

"Shut up, teaboy. Much as I hate to admit it, Gwen's right again – you're looking pale even for a Welshman that never sees the light of day. Come on."

As soon as Tosh had disappeared from sight, and Owen was focused on steering Ianto through the archway and down towards his autopsy bay, Gwen crouched down behind a work station away from the blowfish, muttering to herself.

"I hope you understand this, Jack. I can't let you kill them all – not like this, not in cold blood, with no warning. You'll be thankful I did this."

She took the communication device from the back pocket of her jeans and pressed one button after another until a squawk sounded – she couldn't understand the language, but she knew the blowfish understood and could speak English, so she kept it short.

"Get out now. This is a warning. If you don't get out, you will all be killed. Go – now!"

Then Gwen dashed across to the bound blowfish and removed their gags. Ignoring their screams of outrage and threats, she turned her back on them and began to squirt the stinking, thick liquid all over the bodies of the dead blowfish. Checking that no one was watching, she leaned over Volitana as if to pour the last drops of the sauce over her face, then she dropped the communication device and kicked it under a fold of skirt, out of sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What kept you?" snapped Tosh as Gwen ran back into the office. She noticed that her colleague was breathless and looked agitated.

"Nozzle was blocked – couldn't get the sauce to squirt out properly. Have you done it yet?

"No, I was waiting for you. Hang on – there, it's done."

Gwen pressed her face up to the glass wall of Jack's office, surveying the scene below. Tosh joined her and they watched, wordlessly, as mayhem unfolded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Despite having fed well, the pteranodon couldn't resist investigating the scent that accompanied the arrival of food. She gracefully swooped down, using her outstretched wings as a parachute, facilitating a controlled fall from her nest to the ground. As she landed, she folded her wings and clumsily clambered over the heap of sweet-smelling carrion left out for her. She tugged at the sticky coverings with her pointed snout, wondering what happened to the easy-to-eat portions of food that she'd grown accustomed to.

Tearing off a piece of scarlet flesh she was disturbed by the sounds of screaming creatures. She rarely let the noises that sometimes echoed about her habitat to affect her – she knew the sounds made by the one that provided the food and would come to his calls willingly, but the rest she usually ignored. However, it was impossible to ignore the cries of the group of scarlet-skinned creatures that were storming towards her, waving their limbs at her, which resulted in her feeling something stinging her skin. But she had no intention of letting them take her stash of food away from her, she'd enjoyed the taste of the last one, it had reminded her of prey long forgotten. With a high pitched screech, she ducked her head down and swept her bony head crest in an arc, knocking the creatures off their feet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Is she going to kill them?" asked Gwen anxiously.

"What if she does? They deserve to die." Tosh stated with a hard edge to her voice.

"But-"

"Moot point, they're running. Looks like the plan's working – they're headed back towards the boathouse."

Not prepared to enrage the leathery-winged beast of their nightmares any further, the blowfish had turned tail and ran. Those whose arms were still tied behind their backs were at the rear, their fellow blowfish not having delayed their own escape by stopping to untie them. As soon as the last one had stumbled through the doorway to the corridor that led down to the boathouse, Tosh dashed across to the computer and sealed them out.

"What about Jack? Can he still get back?"

"He's already on his way." Tosh smiled as she pulled up the feed from the security camera set up on the quayside outside the Tourist Office. It showed Jack securing the Sea Queen to a mooring pillar before slipping behind the boarding on his way to the temporary entrance to the Hub.

"Won't the blowfish spot that it's not in the boatyard?" quizzed Gwen.

"Probably – but I doubt they'll hang around to work out where it went." Tosh shrugged. "Come on, let's find the others."

Gwen frowned as she watched Tosh rush out of the office. It was almost as if she was excited about the prospect of the massacre planned by Jack. Shaking her head, Gwen followed, hoping that her message had got through and that there would be no more deaths than could be avoided. She knew Jack was going to be angry when he found out what she'd done, but she was convinced he'd forgive her – he always did. He kept telling her that he valued her compassionate nature, that was why he needed her. She was certain he'd understand even if the others didn't. Her and Jack were like opposite sides of the same coin after all.

In the back of her mind echoed a phrase she couldn't place.

_"The Carer with her oh-so-beating heart."_

 


	32. Chapter 32

Jack cautiously kept to one side as the huge cog door rolled open, his gun in hand in readiness. A quick scan showed the area to be empty, with the exception of the pteranodon impatiently tearing pieces of dead blowfish from their corpses. Jack cringed a little, wondering how they were going to clear up the mess, knowing damn well that he wasn't going to allow Ianto to lift a finger to help.

"Jack!" Tosh yelled out. "It's safe – they've all gone. Not sure if they all got on the sub, but we can clear out any stragglers later. I sealed the corridor."

"Great work, Tosh." Jack grinned as he tucked his Webley back in its holster. "You should be able to track their sub now – I put a transponder on its hull."

Tosh smiled back and headed for her own workstation. She was finally beginning to feel there was an end in sight to the nightmare they'd been living through since the blowfish had first attacked Torchwood.

"Did you do it? Did you plant a bomb?" Gwen asked Jack.

"Yes, and don't give me that look." Jack raised his chin defiantly, not willing to be cowed by Gwen's stance of taking the moral high ground. "You're not going to make me feel guilty, not this time."

"You know what, Jack, I never used to believe you when you said you could be cruel when you had to be… but I do now."

"Where's Ianto?" asked Jack, deliberately changing the subject and subconsciously thinking of the one person who knew all sides to his character and yet still accepted him for who he was and not who they wanted him to be.

"With Owen – he wanted to check him out."

"I bet he did," leered Jack, determined not to let Gwen bring him down. Those blowfish had blown a hole in his base, kidnapped and hurt Ianto and then threatened to target Cardiff with more missiles. Petty criminal activity he could ignore, but they'd overstepped the line and he wasn't in a forgiving mood.

Turning smartly on his heel, Jack bounded away from Gwen, ducked through the archway and ran down the steps into the autopsy bay. He was greeted by the sight of Ianto stripped to the waist and lying face down as Owen leaned over him, carefully taping a fresh dressing to his back.

"Hey, that's my man you've got your hands all over!" he called out.

"Trust me, Jack – it's only in my capacity as physician that I'd contemplate laying a finger on him – he's not my type."

"You don't know what you're missing." Jack winked at Owen.

"Shut up, Jack – or I can guarantee that you won't be getting those shovels you call hands anywhere near me for the foreseeable future."

"That's telling you, Harkness." Owen sniggered as he helped Ianto sit up.

"Are they gone?" Ianto asked seriously.

"Yeah, as far as we know they all left the Hub. I'll do a sweep later to make sure there aren't lurking around the place."

"Good." Ianto took a slow breath in and exhaled slowly, hoping to disguise the shudder he felt in his muscles. "Shirt please."

Jack plucked the discarded shirt from the bench and passed it to Ianto, pretending he didn't spot the other man's hands shaking as he took it from him.

"Is he OK?" Jack asked Owen, not taking his eyes from Ianto.

"He's still sitting here – he's feeling fine," Ianto responded.

"Owen?" insisted Jack, deciding not to trust in Ianto’s definition of ‘fine’.

"He's still running on adrenaline – so he probably does feel fine, now. Tomorrow I guarantee he'll be feeling like he's been playing rugby against a team of weevils."

"About the same as spending the night with Jack, then?" Ianto said nonchalantly. "No problem."

"Are you saying I play rough?"

"Oi! Stop it, the pair of you – I really don't want to know." Owen held his hands up scowling at the two men. "As for you, teaboy – if you can't stand the heat, stay out of his bed."

"Who said anything about bed?" Ianto raised an eyebrow.

"Enough - I'm going to find the girls." Owen shook his head as he caught Jack smirking. "He's all yours."

"I already told you that," quipped Jack before turning to Ianto and holding out a hand. "Tosh should be tracking the blowfish back to their base. C'mon, you don't want to miss the big bang do you?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Jack and Ianto made it back to the central area of the Hub, Owen was already peering over Tosh's shoulder watching a small red dot flickering as its course was superimposed over a marine chart of the Bristol Channel. Gwen was leaning against the side of Tosh's desk, absently chewing a fingernail, unable to tear her eyes from the screen.

"It's still moving, heading out into deeper water as predicted." Tosh pre-empted Jack's question and answered it before he'd had the chance to ask.

"Jack – how can you be sure it won't explode near civilian shipping?" Gwen asked anxiously.

"I'm assuming their base is away from the main shipping lanes. There have been no reports of incidents involving ferries or any other craft out there – this will be the closest we've ever got to detecting it."

"Exactly what parameters did you set for detonation?" Tosh asked, curious to know what Jack had done.

"The device was switched to standby the moment they powered up the engines. When they shut them down a sequence is activated, triggering a cascade reaction that detonates the bomb."

"Which means it shouldn't explode until they get back to base and dock their sub, right?" Owen checked that he'd understood what Jack had said.

"Exactly." Jack nodded as he held Ianto close to his side, not wanting to let go of him.

"What's stopping them from firing missiles at the Plass anyway?" Ianto rubbed his face, still worried about the threats made by the blowfish.

"They won't take a risk while they don't know what's happened to their matriarch."

"The ones that ran back to the sub would've seen her body." Tosh frowned as she tried to remember if the blowfish that had fled had actually seen that Volitana was dead. "Wouldn't they have ordered a revenge attack?"

"She never responded to the call on her communicator, so they've not had orders," explained Jack. "They won't know for certain if she's alive or dead. They won't dare strike without her command."

"Then why are we doing this? Killing them all if they aren't going to attack?" demanded Gwen.

"I thought you understood why we have to do this."

"Tell me again, because I'm really not getting it –"

"These aren't innocents. Those blowfish have infiltrated every criminal organisation in Cardiff and South Wales – they're behind almost every extortion gang and they run most of the drug trafficking in the city. They still have corrupt police officers in their pay – despite everything we've tried to do."

Jack was virtually growling with anger, he couldn't believe that Gwen was still questioning his authority.

"But can't we retrain them - ?"

"They cannot be rehabilitated!" Jack shouted, frustrated that Gwen was being so obstinate about the whole issue. "They belong to one tribe – all directly descended from Volitana. A single family, all of one mind. This is the only way to stop their influence spreading across the rest of Wales and then the rest of the UK – who knows where they'd stop!"

"What? Are you seriously telling me they're like the Mafia – that they could go global or something?" Gwen's voice rose with incredulity dripping from every syllable. "Do you have any idea how ridiculous that sounds? You're being paranoid, Jack."

As Gwen and Jack yet again squared off against each other, the remaining three exchanged looks that essentially expressed the same reaction of ' _here we go again'_.

"No. I'm not – I know exactly what's at stake. I've lived here for over a century!" Jack spat out, baring his teeth. "I've seen what can happen. Those policemen who nearly killed Ianto that time? They were in the pay of those damn blowfish!"

"What?" Gwen's jaw dropped at the same time as the penny finally dropped and suddenly she understood Jack's philosophy regarding this particular group of aliens. She clamped her hands over her mouth as the enormity of her betrayal hit home.

Jack picked up immediately on Gwen's unguarded reaction.

"What have you done?"

Gwen just shook her head slowly, fearing how Jack would react if she told him the truth. Her previous certainty of his forgiveness having deserted her as he'd spelt out to her the reasons for his extreme response.

"Tell me – just what the hell have you done?" Jack's voice was deceptively calm as he glared at Gwen, but the fury in his eyes was unmistakeable.

Before Jack could insist on an answer Tosh called out urgently.

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"The signal – it just disappeared!" Tosh was frantically adjusting the sensitivity of the instrumentation she was using.

"Had it stopped moving?" Jack demanded.

"No. It was still moving steadily at a constant speed, not even slowing down." Tosh sounded frustrated, her area of expertise not providing the answers they needed. "I don't understand – I can't find anything wrong."

"Perhaps it fell off – the transponder that is," suggested Owen, trying to placate Tosh.

"Impossible," declared Jack. "And even if it had we'd still be picking up the signal."

"Hang on, there's been an underwater explosion. Here." Tosh pointed at what looked like a seismograph trace, with a sharp peak, represented by a jagged line. "It must have blown up before reaching their base."

"Can't have happened." Jack insisted, shaking his head angrily. He'd deliberately used a device that wouldn't detonate until the sub docked. "Damn it – I need to know where they were holding Ianto. We've got to put a stop to what they've been doing!"

Whilst Jack and Owen were peering at the display on the monitors, desperately trying to work out what had happened, Ianto was watching Gwen. She had one hand, clenched in a fist, held to her mouth, her eyes filling up with tears. Then it dawned on him what must have happened.

" They must have found out," said Ianto quietly. "They were warned."

Jack's back tensed up and as he straightened to face Gwen, his expression was unreadable.

"Gwen – do you have any idea what you've done?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It came as a shock to all of them when Jack suspended Gwen, without pay, for three weeks. 'Insubordination' was the reason that Jack chose when he filled out the relevant form, before handing it to Ianto for filing. That was before shutting himself away in his office and refusing to talk to anyone for the rest of the day.

Although Ianto had wanted to wait for Jack to emerge, Owen had pulled rank and taken him back to his flat for the night. He had left a note for Jack explaining that there was no way Ianto was going back to the 'shitty safe house' and that he needed some sleep even if Jack didn't.

A call had been made instructing Rhys to collect Gwen and take her home. Ianto had expressed his gratitude to Gwen’s husband for keeping an eye on his sister and her family, forcing him to take a bundle of notes to pay for the food and beer that he had paid for. Rhys had tried to object, especially when he saw the thickness of the wad of notes, but when Ianto had said it was from Jack’s wallet, he'd quickly changed his mind.

Not only had Jack sent Gwen home, he'd also insisted on Ianto taking a week off to recuperate. He'd visited every day, but not stayed over. Jack said it was because Ianto's injuries needed to heal properly and that someone had to be on duty overnight, especially with two members of the team out. But it felt as if he was paying penance for his sins by denying himself the pleasure of Ianto's company.

Jack was determined to do whatever it took to avoid taking out his anger at Gwen's betrayal on Ianto ever again. He'd nearly lost him for good because of his actions and even Jack knew that something had to change if Ianto wasn't going to leave him of his own free will.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three weeks later and Gwen was back at work, subdued and quietly resentful. The atmosphere in the Hub was so awkward that Ianto had withdrawn to inspect the state of the Tourist Office for the first time since the incident that had almost cost him his life. The walls had been rebuilt and the floor reinstated – both reinforced. The workmen had departed, along with a section of their memories, leaving an empty shell ready to be restored. There was a new counter installed and Tosh had wired in the phone which sat alone on the pristine bench top.

As Ianto stood there gazing at the phone as if waiting for it to ring, the hidden door slid open and Jack appeared.

"Last time you were in here I was about to take you to lunch."

"Yep."

"I was trying to apologise."

"I know."

"Would it have worked?"

"It might have helped." Ianto smiled sadly.

"How about now?"

"I got over it. So much has happened since then – put it all in perspective."

"Dinner maybe?"

"How about that new French place in town?"

"They charge a fortune."

"You saying I'm not worth it?"

"Never!" Jack responded with feeling.

"Can we get out for a while?"

"Yeah - I was going to suggest it. The Rift's quiet and Owen's keeping an eye on Gwen."

It went without saying that Jack no longer trusted Gwen. He'd told her she was on a month's probation. If she let him down once more, he'd have to let her go. There had been a time when he'd never have contemplated that, but he realised he could live with it, especially if it meant the rest of the team were safer.

As they walked in silence towards the car park, each adrift in their own thoughts, Ianto let Jack take his hand.

"How's your sister? Talked to her yet?" Jack asked, his thoughts having led him to remember that others had also been in danger.

"She gave me hell – said I shouldn't get involved in state secrets and that she never knew it was so dangerous being a civil servant."

"She's got a point." Jack shrugged as he wondered how Ianto would take it if he suggested he leave Torchwood. He pondered on the idea of a holiday, thinking that would be a compromise Ianto would accept. Jack decided he would ask Tosh for ideas.

"I've got surveillance cameras on their house and the kids' school. Got Tosh to put a tracker on their car."

"Still worried?" Jack frowned.

"To be honest – yes. They’re still out there." Ianto said, squeezing Jack's hand tightly.

Jack stopped, gathered Ianto into his arms and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. A promise for later, one that was accepted as Ianto opened his mouth and returned the kiss with interest. However much Jack wanted Ianto safe, he also realised that he didn't want to let him go, even if that was selfish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally Fin …ished (with a 'fish')
> 
> Coming soon – Ianto has a holiday. A romantic tale involving sight-seeing, angst and a fix-it. 
> 
> Please note - these versions here are re-written, re-edited and improved. They aren't the same as those I may have posted elsewhere in the past. Thank you for reading them here and adding kudos and comments, both of which make me smile.


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